MINNEAPOLIS -
A 45-year-old man was sentenced to more than 14 years in federal prison for carjacking an Airport Taxi taxicab on Jan. 29, 2011.
Antonius Brett El-X, address unknown, will serve 176 months for one count of interference with commerce by robbery.
El-X was indicted on Mar. 22, 2011, and pleaded guilty on Jan. 10 of this year.
In the plea agreement, El-X, also known as Brett Anthony Anderson, admitted that he had an Airport Taxi pick him up at a Crystal hotel. While in the front passenger seat, he lifted his leg over the center console and slammed on the brakes. El-X then tried to push the driver out of the vehicle, physically threatening the driver. The driver ran from the car and called police. Officers tracked the cab with GPS. El-X crashed the cab before he was arrested.
The Hobbs Act, passed by Congress in 1946, provides federal jurisdiction for cases involving violent, habitual criminals who commit armed robbery in businesses engaged in interstate commerce.
The case was the result of an investigation by the Crystal Police Department and the U.S.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
