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Eric Knight, 20, pleads guilty to robbing, beating, carjacking Twin Cities rideshare drivers

WCCO digital update: Afternoon of July 20, 2023
WCCO digital update: Afternoon of July 20, 2023 02:28

MINNEAPOLIS – A Minneapolis man pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to the part he played in a brutal carjacking ring targeting Twin Cities rideshare drivers.

The U.S. Attorney's Office says 20-year-old Eric Harrell Knight was charged with a count of conspiracy to use, carry, and brandish firearms during and in relation to crimes of violence.

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Court documents laid out that Knight and other members of his crime ring robbed and beat several Lyft and Uber drivers in the fall of 2021. They would order rides, then pull guns on the drivers when they arrived, robbing them of their cellphones and wallets.

Knight and others would then force the drivers at gunpoint to enter their phone and banking passcodes, then transfer funds to money apps.

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After robbing the drivers, Knight and others would then carjack them, often beating them with their handguns and threatening to kill them.

Knight's sentencing hearing has yet to be set. The FBI and Minneapolis police worked together in the investigations that led to these criminal charges.

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