Members of carjacking gang facing jail after Alfa Romeo, Golf and £70k cash stolen
Two Black Country criminals are facing prison after a spate of carjackings including one where a mother was threatened at gunpoint.
Dante Morgan, from Oldbury, and Chakiah Lambert, from West Bromwich, have been found guilty of conspiracy to rob after a two-week crime spree where expensive cars and more than £70,000 in cash were stolen.
The pair were part of a gang that carried out a series of raids in the summer of 2018.
On August 4 a house was broken into on Maybridge Drive, Solihull, in the early hours of the morning.
Several items were stolen along with the keys to a white Alfa Romeo which was driven off from outside.
Ten days later a carjacking in Castlecroft, Wolverhampton, left a woman traumatised as a gang demanded her keys at gunpoint and attempted to drive off with her son in the back.
The victim managed to pull her son free just in time and they sped away in her white VW Golf R.
The next day four people burst into Tesco Express in Rowley Regis as cash delivery drivers were replenishing the store's cash machine and made off with £71,000 in notes.
Police began to close in the next day when a car linked to the crimes activated an Automatic Number Plate recognition (ANPR) camera.
Armed response officers tracked the car to Handsworth, where it was abandoned in Holyhead Road, before two men were chased down and arrested nearby.
Morgan and Lambert were eventually charged with conspiracy rob after a major forensic investigation and analysis of mobile phones.
They were convicted at Wolverhampton Crown Court on December 23 after a 10-day trial.
DCI Nicki Addison, from West Midlands Police CID, said: “These were targeted crimes for high-value gains and we are pleased to have taken two dangerous offenders off the streets.
"They clearly weren’t acting alone and we will continue to pursue their associates.
"Anyone who can assist with information should contact us."
Morgan, aged 21 of Arundel Road, Oldbury, and Lambert, aged 23 of Cottersmore Close, West Bromwich, will be sentenced on March 25.
