Crime & Safety

Carjacker Cops Plea, Now Faces At Least 93 Years In Prison

Charged with shooting one woman and jacking two cars last year, Lawrence Coffee folded his cards and pleaded guilty.

A Chicago man charged with shooting a woman at a Minooka truck stop, stealing her car and then stealing another car at gunpoint soon after pleaded guilty to all charges in exchange for nothing.

Lawrence Coffee, 27, made his blind plea in Grundy County Court on Thursday, copping to a charge of attempted first-degree murder and two counts of vehicular hijacking.

Each of the three charges carries a possible prison sentence of 31 years to life, said Grundy County State's Attorney Johnathan M. Bates. The three sentences will run consecutively, Bates said, ensuring that Coffee does at least 93 years in prison.

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Coffee was arrested in May 2010 after shooting a woman at the Pilot Travel Center truck stop in Minooka and stealing her car.

The woman he shot, Guadalupe Castellano, took a bullet to the leg and survived. Bates said she was set to testify against Coffee.

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Coffee had walked to the truck stop after the car he was driving broke down on Interstate 80.

But Coffee had trouble with the stolen car, so stole another at gunpoint from a man at a gas station. The victimized man, Michael Malpede, was also prepared to testify against Coffee had there been a trial, Bates said.

The police apprehended Coffee soon after he stole the second car.

Department of Corrections records show that Coffee is out on parole after being released from prison in April 2009 but give no details on what conviction sent him away.

Coffee also faces murder and robbery charges in Lansing in connection with the slaying of an Owensboro man, Bates said. The Lansing killing occurred a month before the incident in Minooka.

Bates did not know if Coffee was on the run from the authorities in Lansing when he passed through Minooka and unleased his one-man crime wave.


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