TRENTON – Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced that a Newark man was sentenced to prison today for committing a carjacking in Millburn last November during which he grabbed a 13-year-old girl around the neck in front of her father and threatened to kill her.
Officials say, Ahmed Anthony, 30, of Newark, N.J., was sentenced today to 14 years in state prison, including nearly 12 years of parole ineligibility, by Superior Court Judge Ronald D. Wigler in Essex County. Anthony pleaded guilty on June 26 to first-degree carjacking and second-degree kidnapping.
Deputy Attorney General Debra Conrad, Senior Counsel of the Specialized Crimes Bureau, and Deputy Attorney General Danielle Scarduzio prosecuted Anthony and handled the sentencing for the Division of Criminal Justice.
“We have ensured that this defendant will spend many years behind bars, where he cannot bring violent crime to our communities or terrorize a family and a young girl the way he did during this armed carjacking,” said Attorney General Grewal. “This lengthy prison sentence reflects our determination to protect New Jersey residents from this type of dangerous criminal.”
“Justice demanded the lengthy prison sentence that was imposed today for this brutal carjacking,” said Director Veronica Allende of the Division of Criminal Justice. “Carjackings are inherently violent and terrifying crimes, but Anthony’s conduct was especially heinous because of his cruel assault on a child.”
“We have secured a long prison term for this violent offender who terrorized a Short Hills family,” said Chief Brian Gilfedder of the Millburn Police Department. “This was the result of a great collaborative investigation by the Millburn Police Department, Division of Criminal Justice, New Jersey State Police, and the U.S. Marshals Service.”
“No parent should have to endure the horror of having their child’s life threatened in front of them, and our hearts go out to the child who had to endure this traumatic experience,” said Colonel Patrick Callahan of the New Jersey State Police. “I am thankful the State Police were able to provide investigative support to our partners in the Millburn Police Department.”
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. 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 having trouble starting the vehicle. The father pointed the gun at Anthony and ordered him to get onto the ground. Anthony exited the car but fled into the street on foot and was picked up in a minivan driven by the third co-conspirator.
Deputy Attorney General Conrad and Deputy Attorney General Scarduzio prosecuted Anthony under the supervision of Deputy Bureau Chief Jacqueline Smith and Assistant Attorney General Jill S. Mayer, Deputy Director of the Division of Criminal Justice.