A Chicago man who carjacked a Facebook Marketplace seller while on electronic monitoring for trying to kill a Cook County sheriff’s deputy was handed a 22-year prison sentence yesterday.
Judge Adrienne Davis sentenced Dewon Cathion after the 25-year-old pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular hijacking and attempted first-degree murder, court records show.
Cathion’s legal troubles began on Thanksgiving night in 2020, when prosecutors say he fired at an off-duty sheriff’s deputy near a gas station in the 3000 block of West Van Buren Street. The deputy, who was wearing his uniform but driving his personal vehicle, was shot at by two men in another car, according to a CPD report.
A month later, prosecutors charged Cathion with attempted murder, and Judge Arthur Willis ordered him detained in lieu of $1 million bail. But in early 2021, Judge Davis reduced his required deposit to $75,000 and ordered him released on electronic monitoring, specifying “NO MOVEMENT” and “24/7 NO MOVEMENT” — meaning he was supposed to remain inside his home at all times.
Prosecutors said Cathion violated that order at least once: on February 22, 2022, when he left his home to rob and carjack a man he met through Facebook Marketplace.
Cathion allegedly agreed to buy shoes and a sweater from the victim and met him on the West Side. The victim arrived in a 2018 Alfa Romeo, and Cathion approached with another man. During the meeting, prosecutors said, Cathion’s accomplice pointed a gun at the seller’s chest and ordered him out of his car. Cathion grabbed the shoes and sweater from the man’s back seat and told his accomplice to drive away with the Alfa Romeo.
Investigators said Cathion fled on foot, but they later linked him to the robbery through Facebook, Cash App transactions, and, obviously, GPS location data from his ankle monitor.
Although the victim identified another man in a photo lineup, prosecutors noted that Cathion has a distinct J-shaped scar on his right hand, matching the description the victim provided immediately after the robbery.
Under Davis’ sentence, Cathion must serve half of a 16-year sentence for the carjacking and 85% of a consecutive six-year term for the murder attempt.
