Newark Man Sentenced to 234 Months in Prison for Three Armed Carjackings

U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey
May 8, 2014

NEWARK—A Newark man was sentenced today to 234 months in prison for his role in three armed carjackings that occurred in a one-week span in three counties across northern New Jersey, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Rahim Braxton, 34, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh to a superseding information charging him with three counts of carjacking and one count of brandishing a firearm during the course of a violent crime. Judge Cavanaugh imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and in statements made in court:

Braxton admitted he participated with several other men in three carjackings that were committed in Essex, Hudson, and Passaic Counties over a period of one week in March 2012. He said they agreed to take high-end BMW and Mercedes-Benz vehicles from their victims by force. Braxton also admitted that during each of the carjackings, at least one of the conspirators was armed with a gun that was to be used in order to threaten the drivers of the cars.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Cavanaugh sentenced Braxton to five years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford; the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray; the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes; the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Gaetano T. Gregory; the Newark Police Department, under the direction of Police Director Sheilah A. Coley and Chief Ivonne Roman; the Clifton Police Department, under the direction of Chief John E. Link; and the Secaucus Police Department, under the direction of Chief Dennis Corcoran, for the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney James Donnelly of the Organized Crime/Gangs Unit in Newark.