Following a four-day trial in Howard County Circuit Court last week, a 39-year-old Columbia man was convicted of all 32 counts in four cases involving three armed carjackings, kidnappings and an attempted carjacking and kidnapping that happened last fall in Columbia.
Ledell Maxwell Padmore was convicted in cases that also involved co-defendant Taylor James Pugh, 25, also of Columbia, Howard County State's Attorney's Office spokesman Wayne Kirwan said. Padmore and Pugh lived in the same apartment building at the time of the crimes. Pugh was sentenced to 26 years in prison in June after pleading guilty to two of the carjackings and kidnappings.
Kirwan said Deputy State's Attorney Kim Oldham told the jury of Padmore's and Pugh's crimes, where they forced victims at gunpoint to lie face-down in the back seat of their vehicles while they purchased drugs in multiple jurisdictions, using the victims' cash that they withdrew using the victims' ATM cards.
Both men were later found and arrested by police using an ATM surveillance photo.
After police released the ATM surveillance photo on social media, Kirwan said Pugh's wife, Garfia, recognized her husband and later confronted him. Garfia Pugh also testified at Padmore's trial, stating that her husband was "shocked" after being recognized. She also told police about her husband's involvement, which led to the search of both Pugh's and Padmore's apartments.
The trial also heard accounts from the four victims – two men and two women – as well as a police detective's testimony involving Padmore's cellphone data and his location in regard to the crime scenes.
Although Padmore's defense attorney discussed a lack of DNA and fingerprint evidence against his client, Kirwan said, Oldham shared the "mountain of evidence against him," referring to clothing, one victim's purse and wallet and an ATM card found cut up inside his apartment.
Kirwan said that Padmore told the court he found the purse lying in the grass around his apartment.
The jury's deliberation continued three hours after closing arguments, Kirwan said, ending in a guilty verdict. Padmore's sentencing is scheduled for September.