Teen Admits Carjacking Elderly Pikesville Woman
A teenager pleaded guilty Monday to the armed carjacking of a 66-year-old woman in Pikesville — a crime that injured both her and her 87-year-old mother, who was run over by the car.
Reginald Belton, now 19, entered guilty pleas to one count of armed carjacking, one count of first-degree assault, and one count of a misdemeanor firearm offense just before he was set to go on trial in Baltimore County Circuit Court. Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date.
His co-defendant, Darius Wolfe, 20, sought and was granted a postponement of his own trial during a separate court appearance Monday.
Valarie Smith had been unloading groceries from her red 2018 Acura around 10 p.m. on August 21, 2024, in front of her mother’s home on Brattle Road when three masked attackers approached her. One pointed a gun at her, according to charging documents.
Fearing she was about to be kidnapped, Smith fought back.
When Edna Smith saw her daughter being attacked, she ran out of the house to help fight off the masked men.
The masked men eventually jumped into the car and began driving away with Valarie Smith’s hand caught in the car door.
The car dragged her a short distance until the driver’s-side door opened. During the struggle, Edna Smith was run over.
When officers arrived, they found the elderly woman lying in the street near the curb, Assistant State’s Attorney Ryan Fish said in court Monday.
She was “bleeding heavily from her lower leg, which had been shattered due to being run over by a vehicle,” according to court documents.
Both of her legs were broken. She also suffered a shattered pelvis, a collapsed lung, and additional injuries as a result of the incident, Fish told Judge Robert Cahill.
The carjackers got away with Valarie Smith’s purse, cell phone, and car keys, which had a GPS Tile tracker attached to them.
Investigators connected Belton to the crime after he tried to use Valarie Smith’s credit card to place an order on DoorDash, Fish said.
Analysis of Belton’s cell phone records also placed him at the location at the time of the carjacking, he said.
Police found the car two weeks later in northeast Baltimore City. Investigators also reported finding evidence that Wolfe had tried to sell the vehicle on Instagram.
When police arrested Belton on October 9, 2024, at a motel on Whitehead Court, they recovered a .38-caliber handgun, according to court records.
Belton’s court records include a handwritten affidavit in which he claims Wolfe was not involved in the carjacking and that he sold the Acura to Wolfe without telling him it was stolen.
A conviction of armed carjacking carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. The first-degree assault conviction carries a maximum of 25 years, and the misdemeanor firearm offense is punishable by up to three years.