Parolee gets 20 years in prison for carjacking incident on I-25

Published on January 04, 2023

David Mercado Web Mug.jpg

GREELEY, Colo. (Weld County D.A.) – A Wellington man will spend the next two decades behind bars after a judge sentenced him for a 2021 carjacking incident in Weld County.

Tuesday morning, Weld County District Court Judge Allison Esser sentenced David Mercado, 31, to 20 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections.

A jury convicted Mercado in September of one count of second-degree kidnapping and one count of aggravated robbery.

On May 23, 2021, Mead officers were dispatched to a physical disturbance on Interstate 25. When officers arrived, they approached Mercado who was walking along Frontage Road.

However, when officers asked the defendant to provide identification, he fled the scene. The defendant then forced his way into a male victim’s vehicle before police could apprehend him.

Mercado then made the victim drive him to another location. During the carjacking, the defendant stole the victim’s phone, assaulted him, and told the victim he was armed with a gun.

“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.”

The defendant was on parole at the time of this incident.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Anthony Perea prosecuted this case.

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