CLEVELAND, Ohio — Three men will each spend more than a decade in prison for an armed carjacking spree in Northeast Ohio.
U.S. District Judge James Gwin on Monday sentenced Kenneth Franklin, 19, of Akron to 15 years in prison. Gwin previously ordered co-defendants Donteze Congress, 19, and Thomas Williams, 19, to serve identical sentences, based on their plea agreements.
The trio pleaded guilty to carjacking, possessing a gun during a violent crime and other charges. Congress and Williams are from Maple Heights.
Franklin had no prior criminal history, went to school at Akron Alternative Academy and worked jobs at Kentucky Fried Chicken, Dave’s Supermarket and La Bodega restaurant.
That all changed on Jan. 13, 2022, when Franklin witnessed his 16-year-old brother, Phillip Green Jr., shot in the head in the Buckeye-Shaker Square neighborhood. Green died nine days later.
“He had no care about himself at the time and engaged in reckless behavior,” Franklin’s attorney, Fernando Mack, said. “He had no violence in his background, no criminal history. But the wheels all came off.”
About eight months later, Franklin, Congress and Williams carjacked two people and tried to carjack a third person in a two-hour span. Franklin acted as the driver in all three incidents.
About 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 9, the three men intentionally rear-ended a 22-year-old woman’s Jeep. When she stopped and got out, Williams and an unidentified juvenile pointed guns at her, stole her Jeep and sped away, with Franklin following.
The group drove to Streetsboro where they followed a 39-year-old woman until she pulled into a parking lot near Planet Fitness on Ohio 303. Congress and Williams pointed guns at the woman and ordered her out of her car.
The woman got out, but she fought back, hitting Congress and successfully ordering the group out of her car. The group sped away and ended up shortly after in Solon.
Again, Franklin rear-ended someone, a 62-year-old rabbi. Williams and Congress pointed guns at the rabbi, took his 2022 Volvo S90 and sped away.
Solon police tracked the Volvo to East 94th Street in Garfield Heights, where they found the car and arrested Williams after a foot chase.
Investigators later found a cellphone video of the group standing in a parking lot with both stolen cars. Franklin had a rifle slung over his shoulder.
Police later found stolen keys and other items from the carjackings during raids on their homes.
“To some degree, his history suggests that this was a terrible mistake that will cost him the rest of his life,” Gwin said. “But his conduct was terrible.”
Adam Ferrise covers federal courts at cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. You can find his work here.
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