David Zanders, 22, Kidnapper and Carjacker Pleads Guilty

Friday, November 1, 2024

WASHINGTON – David Zanders, 22, of Washington D.C., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in connection with a May 2022 kidnapping and robbery outside a nightclub in Northwest and the carjacking of another set of victims later that day, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves, FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge David Geist of the Washington Field Office's Criminal and Cyber Division, and Chief Pamela A. Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department.

            Zanders pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth to one count of kidnapping and one count of carjacking. Judge Lamberth set a sentencing date of March 4, 2025. Zanders faces a maximum penalty of life in prison on the kidnapping charge and 15 years on the carjacking charge. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

            The defendant was arrested on November 18, 2022, and has been detained ever since.

            According to court documents, during the early morning hours of May 1, 2022, Zanders and another suspect kidnapped two males outside of a nightclub on the 600 block of Florida Avenue, NW.  Zanders and the other suspect claimed to be working for Uber. The victims subsequently got into the Zanders’ vehicle. Soon after, Zanders pulled onto a neighborhood street in Washington, D.C., pointed a firearm at the two victims, and robbed them of their phones and money.

            The victims were then driven to various commercial establishments in an attempt to withdraw money from ATMs using the victims’ credit cards. One of the victims escaped at a gas station in Washington D.C. as Zanders and the other suspect were looking for an ATM. After the first victim fled, Zanders and the other suspect drove the second victim to a supermarket in Maryland. Once there, Zanders and the other suspect withdrew money from an ATM using the second victim’s ATM card. The second victim was then driven to another location in Maryland and then released.

            Later that day, Zanders, along with the same suspect and a third individual met on the 900 block of Longfellow Street, NW. Zanders had arranged a meeting with two additional victims where he was purporting to sell his car. In reality, he was planning on taking their vehicle. When the two victims arrived in a 2019 green Dodge Charger, Zanders pulled out a firearm, threatened to shoot one of them and demanded his phone, money and keys. The additional suspects turned towards the second person and demanded the car keys. The second person complied and one of the suspects drove away with the Dodge Charger.  Zanders and the additional suspect then drove away in their own vehicles and fled the scene.

            This investigation was conducted by the MPD’s Violent Crime Suppression Unit and FBI’s Washington Field Office’s Violent Crimes Task Force with valuable assistance from Prince George’s County Police Department.

            The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Shehzad Akhtar and Cameron Tepfer. Former Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Renaud also contributed to the prosecution. The case was initially investigated and indicted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas