WELD COUNTY, Colo. — A 31-year-old man will spend the next 20 years in prison after a carjacking incident in Weld County in 2021.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Weld County District Attorney's Office announced that David Mercado was sentenced to 20 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections for the incident.
On May 23, 2021, Mead police were called to a physical disturbance on Interstate 25. According to a press release from the Weld County DA's Office, when officers arrived at the scene they found Mercado walking along Frontage Road.
When officers asked Mercado for identification, he fled the scene. The release says that Mercado forced his way into a male victim's vehicle. Mercado made the victim drive him to a different location, during the kidnapping he stole the victim's phone, assaulted him, and told him he had a gun, the release said.
Mercado was later arrested and charged with kidnapping and robbery. He was also on parole at the time of the incident, the DA's Office said.
In September 2021 a jury convicted Mercado of one count of second-degree kidnapping and one count of aggravated robbery.
“This defendant put many people in our community at risk of being seriously injured that day,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Anthony Perea said during the sentencing hearing. “He deserves an appropriate sentence to ensure the safety of this community, and to ensure he doesn’t do this to another victim.”
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