Elyria man charged with carjacking victim, fleeing police in early February

An Elyria man who already served prison time for a 2017 robbery has been charged with carjacking a victim for their BMW before leading police on a chase in early February. Desmond Lewis, 28, of Sumner Street, was indicted Friday by a grand jury on one count each of aggravated robbery, a felony with two firearm specifications and a repeat violent offender specification; one count of having weapons under disability, a felony with two firearm specifications; two counts of failure to comply, both felonies; one count each of grand theft of a motor vehicle, receiving stolen property and obstructing official business, all felonies; and misdemeanor charges of theft and reckless operation. He was being held in the Lorain County Jail on $577,500 bond. His arraignment is Thursday in Lorain County Common Pleas Court. A message seeking comment was left for Lewis' attorney, Doug Merrill, who has filed a request with the court to reduce his client's bond. The firearms and repeat violent offender specifications could add mandatory prison time to Lewis' sentence if he is convicted. The alleged crimes all occurred Feb. 4-5. Elyria police said that late on Feb. 4, officers responded to a reported carjacking on Lorain Boulevard north of Bell Avenue. Lewis allegedly pulled a gun on the victims, stole a BMW 528xi from one of them and $120 in cash from another before driving off in the stolen car, according to police and his criminal charges. Officers saw the car on West Avenue near Oberlin Road just before 10 a.m. the following morning, Feb. 5, but the driver fled south on state Route 301 with police in pursuit. Lewis, who was driving, got onto the eastbound ramp to U.S. Route 20 then turned and drove westbound in the eastbound lanes, police said. They said the car's engine then apparently failed and it stopped just a few hundred feet west of Route 301. Officers, with support from the Lorain County Sheriff's Office and the State Highway Patrol, negotiated with Lewis for about 30 minutes before he agreed to surrender, according to Elyria police. No one was injured during the carjacking or pursuit, authorities said. Lewis is not allowed to have guns after a conviction for aggravated robbery in Common Pleas Court in 2018. He was sentenced to seven years in prison in that case, with credit for 18 months already served awaiting trial. Lewis was released from prison in September 2024 and placed on five years post-release control — formerly called parole — according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.