By Todd Cooper
Omaha World-Herald
OMAHA, Neb. — Two teenagers who were accused in a bizarre carjacking pleaded to a different charge Monday.
Mary Likely, 16, and Desiree Levering, 15, pleaded no contest and guilty, respectively, to assaulting a correctional officer, said prosecutor Steve Gabrial, a deputy Douglas County attorney.
Douglas County District Judge J. Michael Coffey found them both guilty, Gabrial said.
In turn, prosecutors dropped robbery charges against Likely and Levering after investigators were unable to locate the victim of an October carjacking in which a baby was removed from the car.
Amber Blakeman, 21, was driving her car near 25th and Corby Streets on Oct. 3 when she was stopped by three teenage girls. One girl struck Blakeman with a brick, another removed her 9-month-old baby from the car, and the three then took off in Blakeman’s car.
As the case wound through court, investigators tried repeatedly to find Blakeman -- to no avail, Gabrial said.
The dismissal comes after weeks of court wrangling in which attorneys for Likely and Levering tried to get their cases transferred to juvenile court.
Prosecutors successfully resisted -- only to see the robbery case lost without the accuser.
“It’s frustrating,” Gabrial said.
If convicted of the robbery charge, Likely and Levering would have faced up to 50 years in prison.
Instead, the two face up to five years in prison when they are sentenced on the assault convictions in August.
The assault charges stemmed from altercations Likely and Levering had with corrections officers at Douglas County Youth Center, where they have been
housed since their arrest.
The robbery charge against a third teen -- Uniquea Davis -- was transferred to juvenile court.
Copyright 2008 The Omaha World-Herald Company