A man from suburban Chicago has been sentenced to over four years in federal prison for dragging a federal agent with a stolen Jeep, leading police on a high-speed chase, and possessing two firearms.
Andrew Vesely, 25, from Posen, received a sentence of four years and four months from U.S. District Judge John F. Kness on June 9. Vesely pleaded guilty to forcibly resisting, impeding, and interfering with a federal officer, as well as illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He has already been in custody for just over four years, which will count towards his sentence, according to officials.
In January 2022, Vesely was on probation for two felony convictions in Illinois and had two outstanding warrants. He was also a suspect in the theft of several Jeep Grand Cherokees, including one found in an alley behind his home, as court records indicate. A DEA enforcement team, assisted by Homeland Security Investigations agents and a Posen police officer, attempted to arrest him at his residence.
As Vesely exited his house and approached the alley, four officers moved in to apprehend him. He quickly jumped into the Jeep and started it. A DEA agent attempted to grab him through the open driver’s door, but Vesely accelerated, causing the agent to lose his grip and fall into garbage cans, sustaining bruises. As Vesely sped away, his backpack fell out, prompting two agents to fire seven shots at the vehicle, as outlined in a criminal complaint.
Vesely drove at high speed from Posen to the nearby town of Markham. Markham police, alerted by dispatch, pursued him as he sped through traffic signals at over 100 miles per hour. Vesely eventually crashed the Jeep into an embankment and was apprehended while attempting to flee on foot.
The backpack left behind by Vesely allegedly contained a loaded Ruger Model 57 semiautomatic pistol with armor-piercing rounds, a spare magazine, a car-key programming device, 31 key fobs, and other tools for vehicle theft. A search of his room revealed another loaded semiautomatic pistol, three loaded magazines, a bulletproof vest, a police scanner, 25 key fobs, and a second car-key programming device. Prosecutors claimed the armor-piercing ammunition was intended to penetrate the protective vests of the arresting agents.
Prosecutors emphasized in a sentencing memorandum that Vesely was on a “destructive path” when apprehended, stating that without intervention, “he probably would have killed someone or been killed within a couple of years.”
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