Man Pleads Guilty in BB Gun Carjacking, Alleged Accomplice Going to Trial

A man who admitted to carjacking an Orland Park restaurant employee last summer with a BB gun was sentenced to 12 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections Thursday, but the woman he said helped him plan the crime is moving forward with a trial.

Jonathan Sarolas, 25, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated vehicular hijacking, a class X felony, in Judge John J. Hynes' Bridgeview courtroom. He has been in Cook County Jail on $700,000 bond since he was captured for the June 25, 2012 incident.

Sarolas' arrest was also a parole violation for a 2006 robbery conviction and he had been released from prison 11 days before the carjacking.  He was credited with 224 days time served and will also have to pay $725 in court costs.

However, 24-year-old April Schmidt, whom Sarolas said in open court was his accomplice, is moving forward with a bench trial, her lawyer announced Thursday. She had been offered a plea deal by the state but turned it down, her attorney said.

Her trial has been set for April 11. 

Police say Sarolas held up the employee with a BB pistol and stole her car keys and purse, before Sarolas and Schmidt fled the parking lot of Red Lobster in Orland Park in the employee's car. After a police chase, Schmidt was picked up near the car and Sarolas was arrested days later.

During his plea, Sarolas admitted that Schmidt, whom he was dating at the time, bought the black Beretta BB gun at Sports Authority in Orland Hills when the two weren't able to purchase one at the nearby Dick's Sporting Goods. Questioned by prosecutors, Sarolas agreed that the pair wanted to buy a BB gun that looked realistic and find a "weak" female to steal her car.

Further, Sarolas said the two hid in the bushes at the Orland Park Red Lobster to find a victim. After he held up the woman at gunpoint and got in the driver's seat of her vehicle, Schmidt ran out of the bushes and got in the passenger side, he testified.

Sarolas' defense attorney Gus Kostopolous said his client hasn't been subpoenaed to testify in Schmidt's upcoming trial and that testimony against Schmidt wasn't part of his plea agreement.

The attorney also indicated that Sarolas' does have regrets about the incident.

"He feels terrible about what he did," Kostopolous said. "He wants to move forward to lead a productive life in the future."

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