{"id":7049,"date":"2026-01-21T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=7049"},"modified":"2026-01-24T05:02:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T11:02:32","slug":"fargo-man-admits-armed-carjacking-8-thefts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/fargo-man-admits-armed-carjacking-8-thefts\/","title":{"rendered":"Fargo: Man Admits Armed Carjacking, 8 Thefts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Fargo, Cass County<\/strong> (<a href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\">trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) A 29-year-old Fargo man has pleaded guilty in federal court.<\/p>\n<p>Nathaniel Thomas Smith admitted to an armed carjacking and a string of vehicle thefts.<\/p>\n<p>Federal records say he moved stolen vehicles between North Dakota and Minnesota.<\/p>\n<h2>Guilty plea in U.S. District Court<\/h2>\n<p>Smith signed a plea agreement on Jan. 5 in U.S. District Court.<\/p>\n<p>He pleaded guilty to robbery and eight theft counts tied to interstate travel.<\/p>\n<p>The documents say the thefts happened from late August to mid-September 2025.<\/p>\n<h2>Armed carjacking hit the local crew<\/h2>\n<p>The most serious charge stems from a Sept. 8, 2025, incident in Fargo.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors say Smith showed a gun during a carjacking.<\/p>\n<p>The victims worked for Snow &amp; Lawn Dynamics at the time.<\/p>\n<p>Smith took a vehicle and a trailer, court records say.<\/p>\n<p>The business reported losses above $20,000.<\/p>\n<p>The case falls under the Hobbs Act, which covers robbery that affects commerce.<\/p>\n<p>Learn more about the Hobbs Act at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/18\/1951\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cornell Law School<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12180\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12180\" style=\"width: 234px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12180\" src=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Nathaniel-Thomas-Smith-234x300.png\" alt=\"Nathaniel Thomas Smith\" width=\"234\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Nathaniel-Thomas-Smith-234x300.png 234w, https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Nathaniel-Thomas-Smith.png 339w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 234px) 100vw, 234px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12180\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nathaniel Thomas Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Eight stolen vehicles crossed state lines<\/h2>\n<p>Federal prosecutors say Smith stole eight vehicles and moved them across state borders.<\/p>\n<p>The combined losses from the thefts topped $150,000, according to the plea deal.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>White 2013 GMC Sierra, taken Aug. 29 in Minnesota.<\/li>\n<li>Blue 2006 Dodge Ram, taken Sept. 1 to 5 in Minnesota.<\/li>\n<li>Red 2003 Chevy Silverado, taken Sept. 2 to 5 in Minnesota.<\/li>\n<li>Black 2019 Chevy Silverado, taken Sept. 7 to 8 in Minnesota.<\/li>\n<li>Gray 2024 Ford Maverick, taken Sept. 8 to 9 in North Dakota.<\/li>\n<li>White 2014 Chrysler Town &amp; Country, taken Sept. 9 to 11 in North Dakota.<\/li>\n<li>White 2020 Kenworth semi tractor, taken Sept. 9 to 11 in Minnesota.<\/li>\n<li>The vehicle and trailer were taken in the Sept. 8 armed carjacking.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>A call from jail raised an obstruction claim<\/h2>\n<p>State officers arrested Smith on Sept. 12, court records say.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors say he later tried to erase evidence from a phone.<\/p>\n<p>He told another person to \u201cwipe it remotely,\u201d records say.<\/p>\n<p>That claim added an obstruction boost to his sentencing range.<\/p>\n<h2>Possible sentence and next steps<\/h2>\n<p>The robbery count can bring up to 20 years in federal prison.<\/p>\n<p>Each interstate theft count can bring up to 10 years.<\/p>\n<p>Fines can reach $250,000 per count, the plea deal notes.<\/p>\n<p>The agreement lists an offense level of 27 under federal guidelines.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors agreed to seek a low-end sentence within that range.<\/p>\n<p>A sentencing date was not listed in the plea filing.<\/p>\n<p>Smith also faces restitution orders for victims, if the judge approves.<\/p>\n<p>The plea deal binds only the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office in North Dakota.<\/p>\n<p>Read more about that office at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-nd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">justice.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Smith remains held at the Cass County Jail, according to court documents.<\/p>\n<p>He also faces separate state allegations tied to conduct in custody.<\/p>\n<p>For local custody details, see Cass County\u2019s detention center page.<\/p>\n<p><em>I&#8217;m Chris Harper reporting for <a href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\">TRF News<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fargo, Cass County (trfnews.i234.me) A 29-year-old Fargo man has pleaded guilty in federal court. Nathaniel Thomas Smith admitted to an armed carjacking and a string of vehicle thefts. Federal records say he moved stolen vehicles between North Dakota and Minnesota. Guilty plea in U.S. District Court Smith signed a plea agreement on Jan. 5 in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"","timeOption":"","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":""},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[756,13594,769,10245,1051],"trf_mt_town":[],"trf_mt_county":[],"trf_mt_topic":[],"trf_mt_series":[],"class_list":["post-7049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-cass-county","tag-court-sentencing","tag-fargo","tag-nathaniel-thomas-smith","tag-theft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7049"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_town","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_town?post=7049"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_county","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_county?post=7049"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_topic?post=7049"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_series?post=7049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}