Three teen suspects in DA Jason Williams carjacking indicted as adults

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Three teen suspects accused of stealing New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams SUV at gunpoint last month were indicted as adults Thursday (Nov. 30) by an Orleans Parish grand jury.

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Three teen suspects accused of stealing New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams’ SUV at gunpoint last month were indicted as adults Thursday (Nov. 30) by an Orleans Parish grand jury.

The suspects -- 18-year-old Ahmad Seals and 16-year-old cousins Dijohn Curtis and Amajha “Cheewee” Curtis -- were each charged with three counts of armed robbery. Each count carries a potential punishment of 10 to 99 years in state prison upon conviction.

Bond was set at $225,000 for Seals, according to court documents.

The three are accused of taking Williams’ Lincoln Navigator SUV and a purse from Williams’ 78-year-old mother at gunpoint near the DA’s Lower Garden District home around 10 p.m. on Oct. 16. The trio also is accused of stealing a Honda Civic at gunpoint from a third victim about 24 minutes later, from outside her residence in the 1800 block of Carondelet Street.

Because Williams is one of the three victims, the case is being handled by prosecutors from the state Attorney General’s office.

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New Orleans police first arrested 18-year-old Raymond Rochon III in connection to the case, after catching him the next day in New Orleans East, allegedly driving a stolen truck used in the crimes.

But investigators appear to have determined Rochon had not participated in the armed robberies the night before. A scheduled preliminary hearing for Rochon was averted Wednesday, when he was charged in a bill of information with two counts of illegal possession of a stolen vehicle, two counts of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, illegal possession of a stolen vehicle valued between $500 and $1,500, theft of a motor vehicle and the illegal carrying of a weapon. Police said Rochon was arrested with a loaded gun tucked in his front waistband.

The NOPD arrested Seals and Dijohn Curtis on Oct. 24, then booked Cheewee Curtis with the high-profile crime against the city’s top prosecutor on Nov. 17.

Investigators wrote in an arrest warrant affidavit that a person with knowledge of the crimes told detectives that Cheewee Curtis and Dijohn Curtis are cousins and participated together with Seals in the two armed robberies.

Records obtained by Fox 8 show Cheewee Curtis was arrested Nov. 14 on outstanding warrants for illegal possession of a handgun by a juvenile and for possession of a stolen handgun. A search warrant executed at the teen’s home three days later uncovered ammunition and a gun’s magazine in the teen’s bedroom, police wrote.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, part of what led investigators to Cheewee Curtis’ door was that when police recovered the Honda Civic stolen from the Carondelet Street victim about two hours later in New Orleans East, the car was still running and its console displayed a message that a Bluetooth connection had been lost.

An NOPD sergeant at the scene searched the car’s list of previously connected Bluetooth devices, and found a phone with the name “Cheewee” listed. The Honda’s owner told police she did not recognize the name “Cheewee,” nor recalled ever permitting a device with that name to be connected to her vehicle.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, the district attorney’s SUV was recovered about an hour and 13 minutes after it was stolen, ditched in the 2300 block of Coliseum Street.

The Carondelet Street woman’s stolen Honda Civic was found about an hour and 45 minutes after it was taken, abandoned at Lake Forest Avenue and Mayo Boulevard, an intersection about a quarter-mile from Cheewee Curtis’ mother’s house in the 4800 block of Rosemont Place.

The Curtis cousins, who both remain in Orleans Parish juvenile custody, were scheduled for a juvenile court hearing on Dec. 6. However, the grand jury indictment placing the case in Criminal District Court appears to render that hearing moot.

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