TULARE COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – A man was denied parole for a 2003 carjacking of a mother and her child in Porterville, the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office said.

Prosecutors secured a 3-year denial of parole for 44-year-old Jacob DeMasters on Dec. 11.

On Sept. 2, 2003, police officers initiated a traffic stop on DeMasters. According to the DA, he failed to stop and crashed the vehicle. He then fled on foot. During the investigation, it was revealed that the vehicle he was driving was stolen from Exeter.

The DA said later that morning, he approached a woman who was backing out of her driveway in her vehicle. He had asked her for a ride to the hospital, but the woman refused. After she refused, DeMasters opened the front passenger door and pointed a gun at her, demanding she drive.

In the woman’s car was her child. DeMasters, according to the DA, drove to a small motel and demanded that she not say anything. He then left the vehicle.

The woman contacted law enforcement, and DeMasters was arrested two days later.

In 2004, DeMasters was convicted of two counts of carjacking and kidnapping with the special allegation that he used a firearm and one count of vehicle theft.

He was sentenced to 17 years to life in prison. While he was in prison, he was twice convicted and sentenced to an additional five years for being in possession of a deadly weapon.