Two Minneapolis men have pleaded guilty in a federal armed carjacking case where they kidnapped a man for several hours.
Jamal Timothy Funchess, 18, and T'Shawn Teon Palton, 21, both pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court to carjacking a man at gunpoint on Feb. 14. As part of a plea deal, additional charges were dropped for kidnapping and possessing a weapon in connection with a crime of violence, court records show.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the two men and another teenage boy posted an advertisement to sell an iPhone on Facebook Marketplace. The victim, who was interested in buying the phone, met Palton and the boy in Columbia Heights.
The two approached the man's Kia Optima as he was inside. The teenage boy, carrying a handgun, then hit the man in the face with the weapon, according to the complaint.
They ordered the victim into the back seat, and then got into the car themselves before picking up Funchess. They drove around the Twin Cities for several hours and demanded the victim turn over his phone, wallet and banking information, according to the charges. Each one pointed the gun at him at some point, the charges say.
They also went to several gas stations in an attempt to withdraw the victim's money with his cards. Near the end of the ordeal they openly talked about murdering him, the complaint says. Eventually, they dropped the victim on a road in St. Paul and drove away in the Kia.
Police used the location information on the victim's stolen phone to find the three. The officers found the Kia in the parking lot of the Embassy Suites hotel on 34th Avenue in Bloomington, where they found and arrested the suspects that night.
Funchess' lawyer declined to comment on the case.
