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BEAUMONT — A local man is facing more than 16 years in jail after pistol whipping a victim, stealing his truck and firing a gun at him, authorities said.

U.S. District Judge Marcia A. Crone sentenced Thaddiaus Joseph Thomas to 198 months in federal prison after the 34-year-old Beaumont man pleaded guilty to discharging a gun in furtherance of a carjacking.

The sentence was handed down on Friday, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

Thomas had pleaded guilty Aug. 12.

“Everyone deserves to live in a safe community, free from the threat of violent crime,” Ganjei said. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas, along with our federal and local law enforcement partners, will do whatever it takes to stem the tide of violent gun crime on our streets.”

According to information presented in court, Thomas and Tremaurice Arthur Randall traveled to Excellent Carwash, 5010 Haden Road in Beaumont, on Dec. 21, 2019, wearing masks. They approached a man sitting in the driver’s seat of a 2003 Dodge Ram pickup.

Thomas pointed a pistol at the man and Randall ordered him to “give it up” before the two pulled the victim out of his truck and threw him to the ground.

Thomas pistol whipped the man in the head and fired one shot toward his feet, Ganjei said.

Randall and Thomas then entered the truck and fled.

Thomas and Randall were indicted by a federal grand jury on March 4 and charged with conspiracy to commit carjacking, carjacking, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

Randall, 24, of Beaumont, pleaded guilty Aug. 4 to brandishing a firearm during a carjacking and was sentenced Dec. 2 to 114 months in federal prison.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Beaumont Police Department investigated this case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney John B. Ross prosecuted.