A Union County, New Jersey, man was sentenced to 85 months in prison for his role in a Newark carjacking in which a firearm was brandished.
Rakeem McNair, 22, of Roselle, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to an information charging him with one count of carjacking and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of the carjacking.
Raquin Tanner, 26, of Newark, pleaded guilty on March 10, 2021, to one count of aiding and abetting the carjacking and was sentenced on July 26, 2021, to 78 months in prison.
According to U.S. Attorney Rachael Honig, documents filed in this case and statements made in court, the victim parked her car, which she used for her work as an Uber driver, on Summer Avenue in Newark on Aug. 13, 2019.
At about 11:00 p.m., while the victim was sitting in the driver’s seat, three men approached her car, violently dragged the victim out of the car, and drove away with the vehicle.
Video surveillance from the scene showed that Tanner, McNair, and the other man walked around the corner.
As they neared the victim’s car, Tanner spoke to McNair and the other assailant then went ahead of them, looked into the passenger seat of the car, and upon seeing the lone female driver, signaled the other two males to begin the carjacking.
One of them pointed a firearm through the driver’s side window, opened the door and attempted to physically remove the victim from the car.
A struggle ensued, and McNair went around the car to aid his conspirator in dragging the victim from the car.
McNair and the unidentified male threw the victim violently to the ground and drove away with the vehicle.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Arleo sentenced McNair to three years of supervised release.