CHICAGO — A man who spent twenty years in prison for his role in the murder of a Chicago police officer will appear in court today, facing new charges that he and another convicted killer kidnapped and carjacked a couple in Brighton Park last summer. One of the carjacking victims, both of whom were tied up, threw herself from the moving hijacked vehicle to escape her captors.
Robert Brandt was 20 years old when he pleaded guilty to a murder charge, hours before his jury trial was set to begin on September 28, 2001. Prosecutors said Brandt hid the gun that killed someone. Chicago Police Officer Michael Ceriale three years earlier. Ceriale was murdered while conducting undercover drug surveillance at the Robert Taylor Homes.
The 16-year-old who fired the shot that killed Ceriale was sentenced to 60 years and two men received 30-year sentences for their roles in the crime.
Now Brandt is accused of working with 44-year-old Ronald Wembley to tie up, kidnap and carjack a couple on August 18. Wembley is also a convicted murderer, having received a 45-year prison sentence for a Calumet Park is killed in 1998.
At a hearing before Wembley in September, prosecutors said Wembley and an unnamed accomplice, reportedly Brandt, took a 35-year-old man’s car at gunpoint in the 2500 block of West 45th Place. They assaulted and robbed the man, took a 35-year-old woman’s purse, restrained both victims with zip ties and forced the pair into the hijacked vehicle, according to an arrest warrant filed against Wembley.
The woman eventually escaped by jumping from the hijacked car while it was in motion, officials said. She suffered injuries to most of her right side, shoulder and buttocks.
Investigators linked Wembley to the crime because his phone records and GPS reportedly placed him at the scene at the time of the crime. They also determined that video footage of one of the carjackers resembled Wembley’s driver’s license photo, officials said.
Brandt is charged with aggravated vehicle hijacking with a firearm, aggravated kidnapping while armed, and kidnapping while armed with a firearm. Prosecutors will unveil specific charges against Brandt and detail how police linked him to the crime during his detention hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse on Thursday.
Court records show Brandt has been charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm twice since serving his prison sentence for Ceriale’s murder: in May 2021 and again in March 2023. Prosecutors with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office have closed both cases dropped for several months. In February 2023, Brandt was charged with violating the violent offender registration law. He was given a two-year prison sentence, time served.
Original reporting you won’t see anywhere else, paid for by our readers. Click here to support our work.
