A man has received a 15-year prison sentence for carjacking a Lincoln Park resident in October 2023. Noah Sidney, 20, chose a poor night to do it: a federal law enforcement helicopter was in the air, assisting Chicago officers and state troopers on an anti-carjacking operation.
The carjacking occurred shortly before 7 p.m., while a 31-year-old man was unloading groceries from his Audi Q3 in the 2200 block of North Seminary. According to police, Sidney approached the victim, brandished a pistol, and demanded his keys, wallet, and phone. The victim agreed, and Sidney drove away in his automobile.
However, a multi-jurisdictional law enforcement task team was working in Chicago that night, including a high-tech helicopter operated by US Customs and Border Protection.
When the victim alerted cops that two AirTags were in his hijacked car, the cops began tracking the devices and sharing their location with the chopper, according to a Chicago Police report. The chopper found the Audi a few minutes later and began radioing “step-by-step location updates” to ground personnel, according to the report.
When the Audi stopped in the 4700 block of South Martin Luther King Drive, an Illinois State Police officer intervened and pursued Sidney, according to the report.
“Major assist on this one from IL State Police, who used their pursuit capability to follow these fleeing, violent armed robbers down the Dan Ryan,” Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) tweeted after cops arrested Sidney.
The cops returned the Audi to the owner.
On Tuesday, Sidney pled guilty to aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm in exchange for a 15-year sentence from Judge Angela Munari-Petrone. He must complete half of his sentence before being eligible for release.
