David Zanders, a 23-year-old from the District of Columbia, has been sentenced to 180 months in federal prison for his involvement in a kidnapping and carjacking that took place on May 1, 2022.
U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. announced the sentencing alongside FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean Ryan of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department. Zanders had pleaded guilty on November 1, 2024, to one count of kidnapping and one count of carjacking in the U.S. District Court. In addition to his prison sentence, Judge Royce C. Lamberth ordered him to serve five years of supervised release.
Court documents reveal that on the morning of May 1, 2022, Zanders and a friend posed as Uber drivers and kidnapped two males outside a nightclub on the 600 block of Florida Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. Zanders stopped the car in a neighborhood, pointed a gun at the victims, and robbed them of their phones and money. He then drove them to various ATMs, attempting to withdraw money with their credit cards.
One victim managed to escape at a gas station in Washington, D.C., while Zanders and his accomplice were searching for a cash machine. The remaining victim was then taken to a supermarket in Maryland, where Zanders successfully withdrew more money before releasing him.
Later that day, Zanders attempted to steal a vehicle from another party on the 900 block of Longfellow Street, NW. He arranged a meeting under the pretense of selling a car, but instead planned to steal the buyer's vehicle. When the potential buyers arrived in a green Dodge Charger, Zanders threatened them with a gun and demanded their belongings before one of his associates drove away in the Charger.
Zanders was arrested on November 18, 2022, and has been in custody since. The investigation was conducted by the MPD's Carjacking Task Force and the FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force, with assistance from the Prince George's County Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Shehzad Akhtar and Cameron Tepfer, alongside former Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Renaud.
