Man Responsible For Three-Day Armed Carjacking Spree In Newark, New Jersey, Sentenced To More Than 19 Years In Prison

U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of New Jersey
18 June 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEWARK, N.J. – A Newark man who committed three armed carjackings in a three-day period was sentenced today to 235 months in prison, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Jihad Brown, 29, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Katherine S. Hayden to four counts of an indictment charging him with carjacking (Counts One, Three and Five) and using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence (Count Two). Judge Hayden imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

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

On May 5, 2011, Brown carjacked a family at gunpoint as they were picking up their three children at a relative’s home in Newark. During the carjacking, Brown walked up as the woman was securing her infant into the car-seat. Brown physically pressed the barrel of his gun against the woman’s head and shouted for everyone to get out of the car. Afterwards, Brown and his associates fled in the victims’ car.

The following day, on May 6, 2011, Brown carjacked a Newark resident at gunpoint as the man was backing out of his driveway. Brown fled in the victim’s car.

On the third day, May 7, 2011, Brown carjacked four individuals, including two nursing students and a two-year old girl. During the carjacking, Brown jumped onto the hood of the SUV and pointed a revolver at one of the victims through the open sunroof. Brown and his associates fled in the carjacked car.

Less than an hour later, Brown and an associate were in a different car when Newark police officers attempted to conduct a motor-vehicle stop. Brown and his associate fled. The ensuing police chase ended when Brown’s car ran a stop sign and collided with another car. Inside Brown’s car, officers found the revolver that Brown had used during the carjacking.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Hayden sentenced Brown 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, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government is represented Assistant U.S. Attorney Osmar J. Benvenuto of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.

Defense counsel: David Holman Esq., Newark

Press Release Number:
15-233