Essex County, N.J., Man Charged In Union County Carjacking

NEWARK, N.J. – An Essex County, N.J., man appeared in Newark federal court today in connection with charges arising out of a carjacking that occurred in December 2012 in Union County, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Larry Brown, 22, of Newark, is charged by Complaint with one count of theft of a motor vehicle by force, violence, and intimidation, and one count of use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. The defendant appeared this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cathy L. Waldor and was detained.

According to the criminal Complaint:

During the morning of Dec. 26, 2012, Brown approached an individual who was sitting in a parked 2012 BMW X5 in Hillside, N.J. Brown pointed a firearm at the victim, tapped on the vehicle’s window with the gun, and ordered the victim to get out of the car. A second individual robbed the victim of the victim’s personal items. Brown and the other individual then entered the victim’s vehicle and fled the area.

Later that same day, the victim’s vehicle was located in East Orange, N.J., and law enforcement officers observed two individuals, one of whom was Brown, walking away from the carjacked vehicle.

The carjacking count with which Brown is charged is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 15 years in prison. The charge of use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years in prison, which must run consecutively to any other prison term. Each of the two counts also carries a maximum fine of $250,000.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Andrew M. McLees; the N.J. State Police, under the direction of Col. Rick Fuentes, Superintendent; special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge David Velazquez; the Hillside Police Department, under the leadership of Chief Robert B. Quinlan; the East Orange Police Department, under the leadership of Chief William Robinson; and the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow; as well as criminal investigators from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark with the investigation leading to the charges.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa M. Colone and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney James M. Donnelly of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.

The charges and allegations contained in the Complaint are merely accusations and the defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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Defense counsel: John Yauch Esq., Assistant Federal Public Defender, Newark

Brown, Larry Complaint