Photo by andertho

A 22-year-old D.C. man was sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison last week for two attacks on cab drivers that took place in November 2011.

Tony Copeland was sentenced Friday in D.C. Superior Court to 13 years and 360 days in prison after pleading guilty in May to one count of carjacking and one count of robbery.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Copeland “was the ringleader behind several incidents in which he and others went to the Union Station taxicab line posing as paying customers, soliciting cab fares to the area of 44th Street NE.”

Once at the destination, Copeland and his accomplices would choke the drivers from behind, or simply demand money. Among the items stolen from the several victims were hundreds of dollars in cash, cell phones, GPS devices, and a Rolex watch.

One such attack took place on November 14, 2011 when Copeland choked a driver from behind while two other individuals robbed the cab. The cab was carjacked by a juvenile in that case. The other attack Copeland was charged with took place on November 20. In that case, another individual placed a cab driver in a chokehold while Copeland stole “about $100 in cash, a cellphone, car keys and a brown leather jacket.”