CLEVELAND — A 19-year-old man who pleaded guilty after he went on a carjacking spree in 2016 when he was 17 years old was sentenced by Judge Daniel Gaul in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas to 10 years in prison.
Larue Perryman pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery, having weapons under disability and failure to comply after he went on a carjacking spree between Oct. 29 and Oct. 30, 2016. For the charges he pleaded guilty to, he faced a mandatory 8.5 to 62.2 years in prison.
According to Cuyahoga County prosecutors, Perryman carjacked or attempted to carjack multiple people at gunpoint in four different incidents spread across Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights and Mayfield Heights. Prosecutors briefed the court with details of each carjacking, including one involving a carjacking of a college student in Cleveland Heights and another carjacking of a family on the way to the Ohio State Fair with a 5 -year-old child in the car.
After he carjacked a student of his Range Rover in Cleveland Heights, he took the victim's cell phone and took selfies inside the vehicle with an unidentified female in the passenger's seat. He also had photos on the victim's cell phone of himself and another unidentified male on top of the stolen cars, prosecutors said during a presentation at the sentencing.
"If any of the victims were here today, I apologize to each and every one of them. I made a mistake as a young teenager and I hope everyone in this court room understands that mistakes are meant to be made and learned from. I learned a lot from this mistake. I hope you understand I stand by these consequences like a man and only hope that you are lenient as possible on my sentencing being the fact that I have two daughters," Perryman said.
But Gaul, who has been featured in the popular Serial podcast episode "You've Got Some Gauls?" and is perhaps one of the most controversial judges on the bench, didn't stay quiet on his opinions of Perryman.
"You said something like 'mistakes are going to be made'. I don't accept that. That's a cop out. My parents taught me you don't make these kind of mistakes...I want you to explain to the media, to the public, to all of us who live in this civilized society that is not so civilized at times how you can even begin involving yourself in this kind of activity."
Perryman also served time at the Ohio Department of Youth Services for a sexual battery charge and a robbery charge at the age of 14, prosecutors said in court.
None of the carjacking victims were present during the sentencing to speak to the court.
After the judge handed down the 10-year sentence, Gaul demanded that Perryman work with prosecutors to identify a female who was inside the Range Rover after the carjacking and another male who pistol-whipped one of the victims. He said Perryman would have to pay $35,000 in fines.
"If I fine you, you're going to do harder time. You know who these people are in the video... and you're going to tell us or you will pay fines, fees and costs and do a hard 10 years," Gaul said. "These people need to be brought to justice. If you don't you will pay the full price and the full 10 years."
When Perryman is released from prison, he will be under five years of post-release control.
