A man found guilty of a Plymouth carjacking has been sentenced to 26 years in the Indiana Department of Correction, but he still faces charges related to the subsequent police chase, wreck of a police car, and death of a police K-9. The Marshall County Prosecutor’s Office says Clarence Shearer, 33, was sentenced last week in Marshall Superior Court 1, after a jury last month found him guilty of armed robbery and theft.
He was accused of stealing a 2016 Chrysler 200 at gunpoint from the LifePlex parking lot in July of 2019. Investigators say he first tried to demand another car at gunpoint, but when the occupant refused, he confronted the driver of the Chrysler, who quickly handed his keys over.
The car was later located by on U.S. 30 near Warsaw by Indiana State Police. A passenger reportedly got out at a stoplight, before Shearer allegedly led officers on a chase, with speeds reaching over 140 miles per hour. While trying to avoid stop sticks that were placed on U.S. 30 by a Whitley County sheriff’s deputy, Shearer reportedly broadsided the police car, which then burst into flames, killing a K-9 inside.
That’s when Shearer was taken into custody, and police discovered he had an active warrant for a parole violation. The Prosecutor’s Office says the gun used in the robbery was found in the Chrysler, and Shearer’s DNA was found on the gun’s handle.
Shearer was sentenced to 16 years for armed robbery, along with a concurrent two-year sentence for the theft count. Judge Robert O. Bowen enhanced the armed robbery count by 10 more years, since the jury found Shearer to be a habitual criminal, according to the Prosecutor’s Office. Shearer still faces charges in connection with the chase, wreck, and death of the police dog in Whitley County.
In a statement Wednesday, Marshall County Prosecutor Nelson Chipman said he was alarmed that Shearer was brazen enough to carry out a carjacking by going car to car in a busy parking lot in broad daylight. Chipman adds, “Well, he’ll have the next 26 years to think about his visit.”
