A Maryland man was sentenced yesterday (Tuesday) for stealing multiple vehicles from Reagan National Airport, including one belonging to a federal law enforcement agency.
Tyrese McKinnon, 25, was sentenced to three years and one month in prison for conspiring to steal five vehicles from Reagan National, and another vehicle from Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport.
The first of these vehicles, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, was a 2019 Chevrolet Tahoe belonging to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Surveillance footage showed two men, later identified as McKinnon and a co-conspirator, entering a parking garage at Reagan National on Jan. 3, 2023 and “pulling on the handles of multiple car doors there, in an attempt to enter the vehicles,” a statement of facts said.
The Tahoe was then seen following closely behind another vehicle to exit the parking garage without being detected by the garage’s license plate readers or presenting payment, known as “piggybacking,” according to an affidavit.
Over the next several months, authorities investigated — and recovered — another three vehicles that McKinnon was found to have stolen from Reagan National: a 2020 Jeep Wrangler, a 2014 Jaguar XF and a 2008 Range Rover.
On one occasion, McKinnon used a credit card found inside one of the vehicles at a CVS in Temple Hills, Md., prosecutors say.
McKinnon’s vehicle thefts stopped when he was detained on local charges between April and June 2023. But they started up again when McKinnon stole a 2021 Honda Pilot from Reagan National in March 2024 and, in one final instance, stole a 2020 Kia Sportage from BWI Airport that April, according to the statement of facts.
McKinnon pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport stolen motor vehicles in interstate commerce. The combined value of the vehicles he stole is estimated between $150,000 and $250,000.
“This case represents the success of law enforcement partnerships to hold Mr. McKinnon and his co-conspirator accountable for their criminal behavior,” Hanna Porterfield, special agent in charge of the NCIS field office in D.C., said in a press release. “NCIS is unwavering in its commitment to protect and serve our Navy and Marine Corps families and the communities in which they live.”
