Teen Pleads Guilty in Carjacking, Robbery

April 6, 2022 – A Memphis teen pled guilty Tuesday to carjacking a woman at a service station on Lamar in 2018 and robbing a teacher three days later as she arrived for school, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.

Defendant Dontavious Bell, 19, was sentenced to 7.2 years in prison, and must serve 75 percent of that sentence before he can be considered for parole. He was 15 at the time of the crimes.

The carjacking incident occurred around 10 a.m. on Jan. 5, 2018, at a service station in the 1200 block of Lamar Avenue when a 29-year-old woman pulled up to a gas pump. Another vehicle with three teens inside then pulled up to the pump next to her, and two of the suspects got out, including one armed with a pistol.

One pointed the pistol at her and ordered her to get out of her car and give him the keys. While the second suspect got in a back seat, the gunman got in the driver’s seat and drove away in the woman’s car, with the third suspect following in the second vehicle.

Investigators said Bell also robbed a teacher as she arrived at Carver High School around 7 a.m. on Jan. 8, 2018. The teacher said two suspects pulled up in another car and that one of them got out and pointed a handgun at her. The gunman took her backpack containing a laptop computer, her wallet, cash and other items.

Bell and codefendant Alfred Hill, 20, were identified as suspects and were arrested two weeks later. The carjacking case against Hill, who was 16 at the time, is pending, along with robbery and theft cases.

Bell and Hill were transferred from Juvenile Court to be tried as adults.

The cases are being handled by Asst. Dist. Atty. Jamie Kidd of the District Attorney’s Special Prosecution Unit (SPU) in Criminal Court Division 8. The SPU seeks maximum sentencing for repeat felony offenders.