2 Charged In Multi-State Carjacking Crime Spree: Police

CRANSTON, RI — Two men are facing charges after they were implicated in several violent carjackings and assaults in Rhode Island, including a pregnant woman. George Santana, 28, and Noel Rodriguez, 18, were arrested Tuesday evening and arraigned in Kent County Court Wednesday afternoon.

Monday night, Cranston police were alerted that a white Honda CRV with Maine license plates which was involved in a violent, armed carjacking was spotted in the city, spurring a search in both Cranston and Warwick. Around 11:30 p.m., another alert showed the vehicle back in the city. Officers were once again unable to find the vehicle as it sped through Cranston. Santana and Rodriguez were driving the vehicle and looking for other carjacking victims, police said.

Just before 2 a.m. Tuesday, Cranston police received a 911 call from Whipple Avenue. The caller said he was robbed at gunpoint by two men and pistol-whipped in the head as he got out of his vehicle. The men then drove away with the victim's phone and cash.

Police later determined that Santana and Rodriguez approached the victim as he was getting out of his vehicle. Santana threatened him, then hit him with his gun. The man was later taken to Rhode Island Hospital with head injuries.

Around 3 a.m., police received another 911 call from Vinton Avenue. The caller said Santana and Rodriguez robbed and shot a man and assaulted a nine-month pregnant woman before stealing their Mercedes.

According to police, the pair followed the couple from a Warwick gas station to their home on Vinton Avenue in Cranston. There, Rodriguez put a gun to the man's head and took his iPhone and cash, before hitting him repeatedly with the gun, causing him to bleed "profusely." He then turned to the woman, punching her in the face and knocking her to the ground.

The man was not actually shot, police said, instead, the woman was confused by the amount of blood and thought he had been shot. The gun was never fired during the attack.

Warwick police spotted the vehicles at the Motel 6 off Jefferson Boulevard a little while later. Cranston, Warwick and Rhode Island State Police set up a perimeter around the building, and the pair were arrested within several hours.

Santana and Rodriguez were implicated in a crime spree spanning Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts that included armed robberies, violent assaults, vehicle thefts, larcenies and more, police said.

In Rhode Island, they face the following charges:

George Santana, 28: No known address

• First-degree robbery
• Carjacking
• License or permit required for carrying pistol: two counts
• Carrying dangerous weapons or substances when committing crime of violence: two counts
• Possession of firearms after conviction of crime of violence: two counts
• Conspiracy: two counts

Noel Rodriguez, 18: Knight Street, Providence

• First-degree robbery
• Carjacking
• Conspiracy: two counts
• Assault of a pregnant woman with intent to commit a robbery