Man Pleads Guilty in Rockville, North Bethesda Carjackings

A man whom police said was behind carjackings in Rockville and North Bethesda last year has pleaded guilty to charges.

Byron Deshane Govan, 28, of White Plains, MD entered a plea of guilty Monday to armed carjacking and robbery with a dangerous weapon. Under the terms a plea agreement, he'll face up to 35 years in jail, the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office announced Monday.

Sentencing is expected in December.

The chain of carjackings began almost a year ago at a Wells Fargo ATM at 110 Congressional Lane in Rockville, according to documents filed in Montgomery County District Court.

At around 10 p.m. Sept. 27, 2012, a 69-year-old woman at a walk-up teller said she looked back at her car and saw a stranger sitting in her Toyota Prius, according to court records and prior statements from Montgomery County police.

The woman told police that the man inside had locked the doors and claimed to have a gun. As she called out for police, the man drove off in the vehicle—her checkbook still inside the car, according to the court records.

The Prius was later linked to a robbery at an Alexandria, VA Dunkin' Donuts on Oct. 11, 2012, police said in a statement of charges.

The Alexandria case has not been solved, a spokesman for the State’s Attorney’s Office said.

Police said the stolen Prius was recovered in Montgomery County on Oct. 13, 2012, Rockville Patch reported last year.

On Oct. 31, 2012 another woman was robbed and carjacked at gunpoint, this time in a Rockville Pike parking lot near White Flint Mall.

According to charging documents, a man ordered the woman out of her Lincoln Aviator, took her wallet and her acquaintance’s wallet, and then drove off in her vehicle.

Police spotted the vehicle on the Capital Beltway and pursued it to Downtown Silver Spring, where the car was ditched and the carjacker got away on foot, Rockville Patch has reported.

Police said Govan was identified as a suspect when he appeared on the surveillance footage at stores in a Waldorf, MD, shopping center, where he charged more than $800 worth of merchandise to the carjacking victim’s credit card, the charging documents state.

Govan was arrested near his home in White Plains, MD on Nov. 2, 2012.