Police: Columbia Carjacking Suspects Are in Custody

Police say a pair of neighbors has been charged in connection with carjackings reported in Columbia this week.

Ledell Padmore, 38, of Green Meadow Drive, has been charged in the Oct. 6 carjacking on Cedar Lane and in an Oct. 9 robbery on Little Patuxent Parkway, according to the Howard County Police Department.

Taylor James Pugh, 25, who lives in a neighboring apartment to Padmore, was also charged in the Oct. 6 carjacking and in an Oct. 11 carjacking on Blue February Way, police reported.

Authorities took Padmore and Pugh into custody Tuesday afternoon and have charged them with armed carjacking, kidnapping, armed robbery, assault, auto theft, theft and conspiracy in the Oct. 6 incident, police reported.

Read Patch’s previous report of the carjacking.

• Columbia Carjacking Suspect Photos Released: Police
• Suspects Carjack Woman in Columbia, Hit ATMs: Police

The carjacking and abduction of a woman on Cedar Lane on Tuesday, Oct. 6, was the first of four incidents—three carjackings and one robbery—that detectives are investigating as potentially related, officials said.

Additional Carjackings

Two carjackings were reported in Columbia on Sunday, Oct. 11, police said.

After midnight on Sunday, a man was carjacked and abducted in the 10200 block of Hickory Ridge Road, according to police. Two individuals with a gun forced a man who had been sitting in his vehicle into the backseat, then drove him around, stole cash and dropped him off in Columbia, police reported.

At 6:20 a.m. that same day, police said two suspects with a gun in the 11900 block of Blue February Way forced a man in his vehicle into the backseat, drove around using his ATM card and dropped him off in Columbia. The individuals matched the suspect description from the previous incident, according to police.

Robbery

At approximately 5 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 9, a woman was in her vehicle when two men approached, opened her car door, showed a handgun, demanded her purse and left.

The robbery occurred in the 12200 block of Little Patuxent Parkway. Padmore is charged in this case, and police said investigators are working to determine whether Pugh was involved.

Police Investigating

“Due to the similarities in the crimes and the suspect descriptions, police are investigating whether both Padmore and Pugh were involved in all four incidents,” police said Tuesday.