Newark Man Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison For Multiple Carjackings

U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of New Jersey
16 June 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEWARK, N.J. – An Essex County, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 240 months in prison for his role in an armed carjacking spree between June 6, 2012, and June 22, 2012 U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Jahleel McLendon, 22, of Newark, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty to an information charging him with five counts of theft of a motor vehicle by force, violence, and intimidation, and one count of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Judge McNulty imposed the sentenced today in Newark federal court.

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

On June 6, 2012, McLendon approached a man sitting in the driver’s seat of a parked Chrysler 300 and ordered him out of the car at gunpoint. Several hours later, McLendon was still driving the Chrysler 300 when Newark police officers attempted to pull him over. McLendon led police on a car chase, eventually losing control of the vehicle and crashing into two parked cars and two utility poles. He eluded capture that day, and three days later, McLendon and an accomplice carjacked an Acura TL at gunpoint while the victim was loading the trunk of the car.

On June 15, 2012, McLendon and an accomplice carjacked a Chevrolet Trailblazer at gunpoint, and approximately twenty minutes later, used that Trailblazer to carjack a BMW 325 at a gas station in Newark. On June 22, 2012, McLendon carjacked a Chevrolet Impala at gunpoint. When the driver attempted to resist, McLendon threatened to shoot her. Less than two hours later, McLendon was still driving the Impala when Newark police officers attempted to pull him over. McLendon again led the police on a car chase before he drove into an empty parking lot and fled on foot. Newark Police officers quickly caught McLendon and arrested him. He was found to be possession of a loaded handgun and 46 glassine bags of heroin.

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

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited the Newark Police Department, under the direction of Police Director Anthony Ambrose; special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Timothy Gallagher; detectives with the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray; and investigators in the U.S. Attorney’s Office with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cari Fais of the Newark office.

Defense counsel: Carol Gillen Esq., Assistant Federal Public Defender, Newark

Press Release Number:
16-173