18-year-old sentenced to 10 years for three carjackings

CEDAR RAPIDS — A judge Tuesday sentenced an 18-year-old Cedar Rapids man to 10 years in prison for his third carjacking and revoked his probation in two previous carjackings from 2018.

Tywun Moore pleaded guilty in February to aiding and abetting first-degree theft. He helped another teen, Royal Jones, 17, rob Tyran Funches at gunpoint and demand “everything” he had on Aug. 7 at 30 Four Oaks Dr. SW in Cedar Rapids.

When Funches resisted, Jones struck the back of his head with the firearm before the teens stole his vehicle.

When he committed this carjacking, he was already on probation for two charges of second-degree robbery and one count of operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent from 2018. He was 15 at the time and charged as a youthful offender. He was sent to the Boys State Training School in Eldora, and when he turned 18, he received a deferred judgment and three years’ probation for the offenses.

In the 2018 robberies, Moore pulled a handgun on one woman in the parking lot of Walmart, 2645 Blairs Ferry Rd. NE, and stole her vehicle, which was later found disabled in Hiawatha. The same day, Moore approached another woman who was getting into her vehicle in the Walmart lot and stole her purse and vehicle. He was later arrested in the stolen vehicle in Davenport.

He faced up to 22 years on all convictions.

During Tuesday’s sentencing, First Assistant Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks asked 6th Judicial District Judge Chad Kepros to sentence Moore to consecutive terms on the robberies, for a total of 20 years.

Richard Pazdernik, Moore’s lawyer, asked the judge to run the sentences concurrently for 10 years, which Kepros did.

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