Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced that a Newark man pleaded guilty today to committing a carjacking in Millburn during which he grabbed a 13-year-old girl around the neck in front of her father and threatened to kill her.
According to authorities, Ahmed Anthony, 30, of Newark, pleaded guilty today to first-degree carjacking and second-degree kidnapping before Superior Court Judge Ronald D. Wigler in Essex County.
Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend that Anthony be sentenced to 14 years in state prison, including nearly 12 years of parole ineligibility. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 24.
The indictment was the result of an investigation by the Millburn Police Department, the Division of Criminal Justice and the New Jersey State Police.
Officials say Anthony was arrested on Jan. 11 by the New Jersey State Police Fugitive Unit, the Millburn Police Department, the U.S. Marshals Service NY/NJ Regional Task Force Newark Division and the New Jersey State Police Auto Theft Task Force. Anthony was ordered detained pending trial following his arrest.
“This defendant turned an armed carjacking into an even more terrifying experience for the targeted family by grabbing the 13-year-old daughter in a choke hold and threatening her life,” said Attorney General Grewal. “This guilty plea carries a lengthy prison sentence and reflects our resolve to protect New Jersey residents from this dangerous form of street crime.”
According to authorities, Anthony and two unidentified co-conspirators ambushed a family at about 1:48 a.m. on November 27, 2017, as the family returned from vacation to their home in Millburn. After the mother and an older child went into the house, the 13-year-old girl and her father were bringing luggage toward the home from their Range Rover. That is when Anthony grabbed the girl from behind in a choke hold and pulled her back toward the Range Rover. The father heard a man yell, “Give me your keys or I will kill your daughter.” He turned to see Anthony holding his daughter and a second man who approached him with what appeared to be a handgun and demanded his money and keys to the Range Rover in which the family arrived. The father handed the keys to the second man, who drove away in the Range Rover.
At that point, Anthony, while still holding the daughter, demanded that the father get the keys to a second Range Rover parked in the driveway. The father went into the house and retrieved the second set of keys. Once outside, the father turned over the keys and the daughter was released. Anthony took the girl’s suitcase and her blanket.
Officials say the father and daughter went into the house, where the father retrieved a handgun and went back outside. He confronted Anthony, who was in the second Range Rover and apparently having trouble starting the vehicle. The father pointed the gun at Anthony and ordered him to get onto the ground. Anthony exited the vehicle but fled into the street on foot and was picked up in a minivan driven by the third co-conspirator.