Essex County, New Jersey, Man Sentenced To More Than 21 Years In Prison For Multiple Carjackings

U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey
2 December 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEWARK, N.J. – An Essex County, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 255 months in prison for his role in three gunpoint carjackings and an attempted carjacking within a one-week period and to firing his gun during one of the robberies, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Corey Thermitus, 23, of Newark, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William H. Walls to an information charging him with three counts of theft of a motor vehicle by force, violence and intimidation; one count of attempted theft of a motor vehicle by force, violence and intimidation; and one count of discharging a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime. Judge Walls imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

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

On Dec. 21, 2012, Thermitus was a passenger in a car that had stopped on a street in the Ironbound section of Newark. Thermitus and several other men exited the car and approached two people standing next to a Toyota Corolla that had just parked. Thermitus brandished a gun at the victims, while another man searched the victims and took the keys to the Toyota Corolla. Once the men had the keys, Thermitus and the other men fled the scene in both vehicles.

He also admitted that on Dec. 26, 2012, he and another man were in the area of 6th Avenue and N. 9th Street in Newark, when they approached a Nissan Altima. Thermitus approached the passenger side of the vehicle, where one of the victims was seated, and attempted to open the door, but the victim resisted and attempted to hold the door closed. Thermitus then told an accomplice to shoot a second victim who was standing next to the car. In response, both victims stepped away from the Nissan Altima and the other man fled the area in the vehicle.

Thermitus admitted that on Dec. 28, 2012, he took a Honda Accord at gunpoint from a victim who was seated in the car in the driveway of a Newark residence. Once the victim got out of the car, Thermitus and two other men fled the area in the Honda Accord. Approximately one hour later, the three men traveled to Midland Place in Newark in the carjacked Accord, where he and one of the other men attempted to carjack a Nissan Pathfinder at gunpoint. Thermitus and another man approached the Nissan Pathfinder while one of the victims in the vehicle was parking it in the garage of a residence. Thermitus pointed a gun at the victim and demanded the victim get out of the vehicle. The victim resisted and drove down the driveway and down the street to escape the carjacking attempt. Moments later, the victim returned to the residence to find Thermitus and the other two men attempting to escape in the carjacked Honda Accord. When another person came outside of one of the residences on the street to check on the commotion, Thermitus fired a shot at the person. The three men fled the scene in the carjacked Honda Accord. No one was injured in the attack.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Walls also sentenced Thermitus to five years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Richard M. Frankel in Newark; the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray; and the Newark Police Department, under the direction of Director Eugene Venable and Chief Anthony Campos, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government is represented by Senior Litigation Counsel V. Grady O’Malley and Assistant U.S. Attorney Dara Aquila Govan of the Organized Crimes/Gangs Unit in Newark.

Defense counsel: Peter Carter Esq., Assistant Federal Public Defender, Newark

Press Release Number: 15-434