Two Cobb County men convicted in a 2019 carjacking that led to a 110-mph police chase were each sentenced to a decade in jail, according to court records.
Dijour Ross, 21, was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release, Cobb District Attorney Flynn D. Broady said. Ross was found guilty of armed robbery and hijacking May 27.
Ross’ conviction matches that of his co-defendant, 23-year-old Francisco Cruz of Marietta, who pleaded guilty to identical charges, court records show. Cruz was also sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release, according to court documents.
Cobb Assistant District Attorney John Overcocker, who prosecuted the case, commended the carjacking victim’s bravery at trial.
“I hope that the verdict and this sentence help her as she heals,” Overcocker said.
At Ross’ sentencing hearing, the woman described how the ordeal left a lasting imprint on her life, according to the district attorney’s office.
“I’m a real estate broker, cancer survivor and a mother of a teen. That’s who you carjacked and robbed that day,” the woman said. “I’ve had to move four times since the incident because I don’t feel safe. You didn’t just take a car; you stole pieces of my life.”
The incident took place just before 12:30 a.m. on May 30, 2019, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. Cruz and Ross held up the woman in the parking lot of her mother’s apartment complex, forcing her out of her Mercedes-Benz at gunpoint and telling her to leave her cellphone in the car.
When the woman was able to get in touch with police, she used the “Find My iPhone” feature to locate Ross and Cruz as they drove away in her car, according to an arrest warrant obtained by the AJC. Officers located the Mercedes, but Cruz and Ross refused to stop, leading officers on a chase that topped 110 mph on surface streets, including South Fairground Street and South Marietta Parkway.
The chase ended when the suspects crashed into a tree near Stephens Street and South Marietta Parkway, totaling the car, warrants show.
Police arrested Cruz after a brief foot chase, but Ross was able to evade immediate capture. He was later apprehended in North Carolina on a fugitive arrest warrant, Broady said, though he did not share further details or say when the arrest took place. Ross has been in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center since at least May 27, 2021, online jail records show.
Cruz has already been transferred to state prison, while Ross remains in the Cobb detention center awaiting transfer.
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