ST. LOUIS -U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Tuesday sentenced a St. Louis, Missouri man to 28 years and three months in prison for a “rampage" that involved carjackings, burglaries and a home invasion in May of 2021.
Drew Clark, 37, started his spree by stealing a man’s Jeep Cherokee at Union Station in St. Louis on May 22, 2021 as the victim was unloading the vehicle. Inside was the man’s 9mm handgun and a Gibson guitar.
Four days later, Clark committed a series of crimes in less than four hours, often discarding items he’d stolen earlier and stealing new clothing, vehicles and other items.
Just before noon on May 26, 2021, Clark left the stolen Jeep near a commercial business in the 3700 block of South First Street and stole a worker’s truck before quickly abandoning it. He then stole a white Dodge Ram belonging to the business. One worker tried to block Clark in with his own truck, until Clark forced him to move out of the way by pointing the stolen handgun at the worker.
About 30 minutes later, Clark burglarized a home in the 2700 block of South 13th Street, taking a wallet and debit card, running shoes and a set of keys and leaving behind the Dodge Ram and work boots. He unsuccessfully tried to use the debit card, then tossed it in a dumpster behind a nearby deli.
Shortly thereafter, in the same block, he entered the home of a woman and demanded money at gunpoint. He forced the terrified woman into her bathroom and zip-tied her on the floor before stealing her keys, her husband’s work safety vest and helmet and her Jeep Cherokee.
At roughly 1:30 p.m., he left the Jeep in the 1100 block of South 7th Street, along with a blue jacket he had been wearing. He put on the vest and helmet and walked towards the Purina facility just south of downtown. After wandering around the grounds and buildings, stealing items and changing into clothing he stole from an employee’s locker, he carjacked a Subaru Impreza from a different employee who was on his way to happy hour.
He left the Subaru in the 1600 block of South 9th Street, leaving behind a Purina vest, temporary contractor badge and radio in the Subaru.
St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers spotted him nearby. Clark fled on foot, running through another victim’s home before officers were able to catch and subdue him. He had a backpack containing an unused zip tie, keys from Purina and items from the Jeep stolen at Union Station: a business card, gift card envelopes and a charging plug.
He hid the stolen firearm after his arrest, but it was spotted by a detective and wrestled away from him.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Finlen summed up the crimes for jurors at Clark’s January trial by calling it an “absolute rampage." Clark, of the 4000 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, was convicted of all charges: three counts of carjacking, three counts of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and one count of possession of a stolen firearm.
The case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan Finlen and Jennifer Szczucinski are prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys