A 32-year-old Newark man was sentenced to 124 months in federal prison after admitting he pointed an assault rifle at carjacking victims in Irvington, then got caught weeks later with a stash of guns and drugs back in Newark. Quadir Whitehead appeared before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo, who imposed the sentence along with five years of supervised release once his prison term ends.
U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer announced that Whitehead received the sentence for using an assault rifle in an armed carjacking and for possessing firearms and controlled substances with intent to distribute, according to NJ.com. Whitehead had pleaded guilty to six counts: carjacking, using and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, two counts of conspiracy, possession of firearms and ammunition by a convicted felon, and possession with intent to distribute controlled substances.
A Gunpoint Carjacking in Irvington
Court documents and statements show that Whitehead and two accomplices carried out a gunpoint carjacking in Irvington on Aug. 6, 2020, as reported by rlsmedia.com. Whitehead pointed an assault-style rifle at one of two victims, ordered that person out of the vehicle, and took control of the car. He then got behind the wheel and drove away in the stolen vehicle.
The same Irvington carjacking led to a separate guilty plea from Elijah Lott, 28, of Scotch Plains, who admitted to carjacking, conspiracy to commit carjacking and conspiracy to use and carry a firearm during a crime of violence, per the same account from NJ.com.
Caught Selling Drugs a Month Later
Law enforcement officers arrested Whitehead in Newark on Sept. 5, 2020, after allegedly observing him selling narcotics in the city, the rlsmedia.com report states. During that encounter, authorities recovered an assault rifle, a revolver and controlled dangerous substances. Whitehead later admitted that the recovered firearms were the same weapons used in the Irvington carjacking.
Whitehead was not a first-time offender heading into this case. He had a prior conviction for unlawful possession of a handgun and, in 2016, was sentenced to five years in state prison with three-and-a-half years of parole ineligibility, according to NJ.com's account.
Part of a Broader Essex County Carjacking Pattern
Whitehead's case lands amid a long-running carjacking problem in Essex County. Essex County had just over 200 carjackings in 2009, a number that climbed to more than 400 per year by 2013, according to the Essex County Prosecutor's Office. That spike led to the creation of a federal-county Carjacking Task Force in 2010, and by August 2013 the U.S. Attorney's Office had prosecuted 37 defendants through that task force.
The Prosecutor's Office later announced the arrest of 12 suspects, including seven adults and five juveniles, accused in 15 carjackings across one summer. Among those cases, Keywan Hudson, 26, of Newark, was charged with an armed carjacking on William Street in Newark on July 4. Separately, a Union County man admitted his role in an armed carjacking involving an assault rifle, according to a announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice.
