Man Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison In Hoover Carjacking Case

BIRMINGHAM, AL — A Birmingham man has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for carjacking and for robbing a business engaged in interstate commerce. The incident occurred Dec. 6, 2018 in Hoover.

U.S. District Judge Annemarie Carney Axon sentenced Albert Ward III after he pleaded guilty in September 2020 to carjacking, use of a firearm during the carjacking, and an unrelated robbery of a business.

As a result of his guilty plea, Ward received concurrent sentences of 156 months on the carjacking and the robbery. He received a mandatory minimum 84-month consecutive sentence for using a firearm to commit the carjacking. Ward had multiple prior felony convictions in state court, including convictions for Robbery First Degree, and Assault First Degree, arising from a burglary in 2012.

Court records say Ward used a pistol to carjack a female shopper outside a retail establishment in Hoover Dec. 6, 2018, then the evening of December 8 robbed a convenience store in northeast Jefferson County, beating the store clerk with a screwdriver and taking the cash register before fleeing.

Blount County Sheriff’s deputies apprehended Ward approximately an hour later when they responded to a call of a suspicious motorist who had run out of gas. Those deputies arrived to find Ward driving off after generous citizens put gas in his vehicle. Having just received a be-on-the-lookout bulletin that matched the driver and vehicle pulling away from them, the deputies quickly pulled Ward over and took him into custody.

The cash register was found in weeds near where Ward’s vehicle ran out of gas. Jefferson County Sheriff’s investigators contacted Hoover Police a few days later after realizing that Ward fit the description of the Hoover carjacker.

The carjacking victim subsequently identified Ward as the perpetrator after a Hoover detective showed her a photographic lineup.

FBI investigated the case along with the Hoover Police Department, the Blount County Sheriff’s Office, and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Baty prosecuted the case.