Second Beverly Carjacker Handed 14.5 Year Sentence

CHICAGO — A man who carjacked a vehicle at gunpoint in in the backyard of a Beverly residence in 2023 has been sentenced to a 14.5 years in a federal prison. Kenneth Merritt, 29, of Chicago, pleaded guilty earlier this year to felony carjacking and firearm charges, in what Chicago police then described as an "appalling" armed carjacking.

On the evening of Nov. 2 in the 9300 block of South Pleasant Avenue, a 46-year-old woman and her 12-year-old daughter returned home about 8:45 p.m. and were exiting their car when Chicago police said they were approached by Merritt and a 20-year-old accomplice, Damarri Conner.

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The woman and her daughter had just parked their Audi when prosecutors said Merritt sprang from a hiding place and attacked them. Horrifying doorbell-cam video showed the woman being violently pushed to the ground and held at gunpoint as her car keys and other belongings were ripped from her hands. Prosecutors said Merritt threatened to kill the woman and her daughter.

The 12-year-old girl ran into the house as the woman's 46-year-old husband was running out to intervene. Prosecutors said Conner, Merritt's accomplice, pointed a gun at the husband, and he, too, was robbed. Both men fled in the family's Audi, which was later found in the 4th Police District.

The pair was also alleged to have returned to the same residence a few days later and used the garage opener and car fobs stolen from the first carjacking to steal the husband's vehicle.

Merritt was taken into custody Nov. 14, 2023, in the 8800 block of South Cottage Grove, as was his alleged accomplice Conner, who was arrested in the 9700 block of South Merrion Avenue. Family members both positively identified the pair, Chicago police said.

Conner, 23, of Chicago, also pleaded guilty earlier this year to federal carjacking and firearm offenses. Judge Harjani sentenced Conner on April 8, to the same period of incarceration as Merritt.

Merritt's sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Ryan Whalen, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI; and Fred Waller, Interim Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.

"This crime was heinous and violent," Assistant U.S. Attorney Elie Zenner argued in the government's sentencing memorandum in Merritt's case. "The trauma he inflicted on his victims will take years to repair."