MONTICELLO — A Silver Creek man was sentenced Thursday to 15years in prison in connection with a February carjacking andkidnapping incident on Highway 84.

Fredrick K. Jefferson, 21, must serve his term in the custody ofthe Mississippi Department of Corrections, pay all court costs andobtain a GED.

Jefferson was originally charged with armed carjacking andkidnapping. He pleaded guilty on March 2 after the kidnappingcharges were dropped and the armed carjacking reduced tocarjacking.

Detric Stringer, 21, of Silver Creek, pleaded guilty tokidnapping on Feb. 16 after charges of armed carjacking andpossession of a firearm by a convicted felon were dropped. Stringerreceived 25 years in the custody of MDOC.

The two men were charged with carjacking and kidnapping GregNorton of Wesson on Feb. 18, 2000. Norton was returning toBrookhaven for work after visiting friends in Monticello when theincident occurred.

Norton was flagged down by two men on Highway 84 West, accordingto the sheriff’s department.

He stopped for the two men, believing they were friends. He wasthen forced at gunpoint to the floorboard of his 1986 Honda CRX.The two men then split up, with Stringer driving the CRX whileJefferson drove a Ford Escort belonging to a friend.

The men took Norton to an abandoned house and struck him on headwith a pistol, according to the sheriff’s department. The two mensplit up again.

Stringer took Norton with him when he visited the friend wholoaned them the Escort. When he left, Stringer was traveling easton Highway 84 and slowed down to make a turn. Norton jumped fromthe vehicle and escaped into the woods. He hid for a while beforecalling 911.

Meanwhile, Jefferson was arrested in Monticello when he failed afield sobriety test during a routine traffic stop. The dispatcheron duty recognized him as fitting the description of one ofNorton’s assailants.