OKLAHOMA CITY – An Oklahoma City man identified as a gang member with a lengthy criminal record was sentenced recently to serve more than 16 years in federal prison for carjacking, in a case solved with a telephone locator app installed on two mobile phones.
Trevor Kane Taylor, 31, pleaded guilty March 5 to one count of conspiracy to commit carjacking and one count of carjacking, Western District U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Downing announced.
Evidence presented at a sentencing hearing revealed that Taylor and another individual who was not named in court records carjacked a vehicle at gunpoint in Tuttle on October 28, 2019.
Senior U.S. District Judge Stephen P. Friot sentenced Taylor to 60 months’ imprisonment on Count 1 and 140 months’ imprisonment on Count 2. The terms of incarceration will run consecutively for a total of 200 months, or 16 years and 8 months.
Judge Friot also sentenced Taylor to serve three years of supervised release after he’s discharged from prison. The federal Bureau of Prisons has no parole.
In imposing his sentence, Friot noted Taylor’s character and lengthy criminal history. Public records show that Taylor has amassed multiple felony convictions in Oklahoma and Canadian counties, including those for possession of a taken credit card, knowingly concealing stolen property, and possession of a controlled substance.
The federal charges result- ed from an investigation conducted by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the Tuttle and Chickasha police departments.
CAR STOLEN AT DAYCARE CENTER
A special agent with the ATF wrote that the case began on October 28, 2019, when a young mother parked her car at a Chickasha daycare center about 6:30 a.m. and left the engine running while she dropped off her child.
While the woman was inside the center, a man opened the passenger-side door, slipped in, crawled over the center console into the driver’s seat, backed out and drove away, the ATF agent related.
The mother had left her mobile phone in the car, so she used its “Find My iPhone” feature and alerted Chickasha police where the vehicle could be located.
Subsequently a chase ensued, the car was stopped and the driver, Erica Marie Hafer-Seder, 24, was arrested. She told investigators that Taylor, whom she knew, had threatened her if she didn’t follow him from Chickasha back to Oklahoma City while he drove an SUV.
Less than two and a half hours later the Tuttle Police Department was notified of a carjacking near Tuttle High School.
The ATF agent said a Tuttle teenager told him he had walked to his Jeep Wrangler to get his backpack when a man riding in an SUV got out and pointed a pistol at him “while ordering him away from the vehicle.” The student exited the vehicle and sat on the curb while the thief got in his Jeep and drove off, the agent wrote.
Since the boy had left his cell phone in his backpack, his father used the “Find My iPhone” app and tracked the vehicle to a location in Tuttle. Police found the vehicle a short time later, but the boy’s backpack and phone were missing. The father used the “Find My iPhone” app again, and it traced the stolen cell phone to an area in northwest Oklahoma City.
The ATF agent said that at least twice over the next three days he drove around the area where the boy’s iPhone was located, and found Taylor at an apartment complex on NW 16th Street in Oklahoma City.
On November 5, the agent showed the teenager a six-person photo array, and the boy identified Taylor as the bandit who stole his vehicle at gunpoint.
Taylor was indicted by a federal grand jury last December and pleaded guilty in March.
CARJACKER HAS LENGTHY RECORD
Taylor’s criminal career stretches back at least five years.
He was charged in Oklahoma County in May, June and again in July 2015 with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle; in June 2015 with possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia; and in July 2015 with concealing stolen property. He pleaded guilty on July 15, 2015, and received a deferred eight-year prison sentence. However, he violated the conditions of his probation.
In December 2015 Taylor was arrested by Mustang police and charged in Canadian County District Court with possession of a taken credit card, possession of methamphetamine, knowingly concealing stolen property, and possession or selling paraphernalia. He pleaded guilty in February 2016, to the four charges and was authorized to enter drug court; eight days later, though, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest for failure to comply with the terms.
The Oklahoma State Courts Network indicates that on April 26, 2017, Taylor’s Canadian County deferment was revoked and he was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Taylor was charged in Oklahoma County in May 2016 with possession of a taken credit card. He pleaded guilty to the charge on April 17, 2018, and was sentenced to three years in prison, concurrent with his eight-year sentence.
Oklahoma Corrections Department records show Taylor was incarcerated from Aug. 10, 2017, to July 27, 2019.
Taylor was charged in McClain County District Court on Feb. 9, 2016, with larceny of merchandise from a Purcell retailer, but he failed to appear in court and a bench warrant for his arrest was issued.
While incarcerated at Bill Johnson Correctional Center at Alva, in July 2018, Taylor petitioned a judge who allowed him to plead guilty to the misdemeanor larceny charge; he was given a 30-day jail sentence to be served while in prison.
TAYLOR OWES GOV’ T $7K
When he’s finally discharged from federal prison as a middle-aged convict, Taylor will owe the state and federal governments approximately $7,000 in fines, fees and assessments.
That includes $2,550 for 65 days he spent in the Canadian County jail plus seven days he occupied a cell in the Mustang city jail.
The fees include a sheriff’s transportation bill, an Automated Fingerprint Identification System fee, a Victims Compensation Assessment, a drug abuse education/ treatment fee (a/k/a Mental Health Assessment), a fee earmarked for the Trauma Care Fund, a District Attorneys Council prosecution assessment, a medical expense liability fund fee, an Oklahoma Court Information System fund fee, a state law library fee, a forensic science improvement assessment, etc.
In addition, claims to intercept any income tax refunds Taylor might receive were filed in each of the last five years.
WOMAN GETS 3-YEAR DEFERMENT
Ms. Hafer-Seder was named in two felonies and a misdemeanor charge in Grady County arising from the car theft in Chickasha. She was charged with endangering others while attempting to elude the Chickasha police, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, and posses- sion of drug paraphernalia.
She pleaded guilty June 9 to all three counts and received a deferred three-year prison sentence, and was ordered to pay $435 in fines and fees.
Hafer-Seder also received a one-year deferred sentence in Pottawatomie County District Court on April 11, 2019, upon pleading guilty to possession of a controlled dangerous substance. In addition, $440 fees and assessments were imposed in the case.