Gang member headed to prison after carjacking family at Kennewick’s Playground of Dreams

A father and two young girls believed a 29-year-old would kill them when he pulled out a gun at the Playground of Dreams and demanded their car.

The January 2023 carjacking left the girls, then 5 and 7, and their dad traumatized and still in fear.

Last month, the father and his oldest daughter told a Benton County jury how one girl still worries her dad may not return home and the other believes Kennewick’s Columbia Park is no longer safe.

On Friday, the man and girls returned to the courtroom to watch Jokane Riklon get sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison.

Superior Court Judge Diana Ruff’s sentence was about three years longer than the maximum end of the range because of the distressing impact to the family.

Riklon was convicted of first-degree robbery after about an hour and a half of deliberation.

The father testified that his youngest daughter now worries when he travels for business, and she calls him panicked that he’s been hurt or killed.

His older daughter testified she knew her father’s wallet was in the SUV and feared Riklon knew where they lived.

Court documents say Riklon is a known gang member and a suspect in several robberies in the Tri-Cities. He denies he stole the SUV.

Playground of Dreams carjacking

Prosecutors say Riklon approached the Tri-Cities family in their Ford Explorer at the Playground of Dreams parking lot at 4:15 p.m. the day of the robbery, court documents said.

Riklon pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the dad, who was in the driver’s seat, court documents said. He demanded the father get out and leave the keys inside.

The man got his girls out of the back seat, and Riklon climbed in and drove away.

Three days later, Auburn police found the Explorer at an apartment complex after someone complained it was violating the complex’s parking rules. Police discovered it had been stolen from Kennewick.

Kent investigators downloaded data from the vehicle and learned Riklon had paired his cellphone with the car’s stereo system after the robbery.

Police tracked his cellphone’s location, which showed it had traveled from Auburn to Kennewick and then returned, court documents said.

Riklon was arrested in March 2023, and police found a gun on him that was allegedly linked to a shooting in Pasco on Jan. 6, 2023. The robbery in Kennewick was Jan. 7.

He was not charged in connection with that shooting.

This story was originally published December 24, 2024 at 5:00 AM.