NEWARK, N.J. – A Bergen County, New Jersey, man was
sentenced today to 65 months in prison for participating in the December 2015
robbery of a North Jersey bar and the violent carjacking and kidnapping that
took place shortly afterwards, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Wilbur Jonathon Barahona, 22, of Ridgewood, New Jersey,
previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares to a
three-count information charging him with conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act
Robbery, carjacking, and kidnapping. Judge Linares imposed the sentence today
in Newark federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements
made in court:
Barahona admitted that on Dec. 25, 2015, he and others
forcibly robbed a bar in Hawthorne, New Jersey, and subsequently fled with
approximately $200 in cash.
In the early morning hours of Dec. 26, 2015, Barahona and
others hailed a taxi in Paterson, New Jersey, and forcibly took the taxi from
the driver. Barahona admitted that he and others forced the driver into the
back of the vehicle and took over driving. Barahona also admitted that during
the carjacking, other conspirators caused seriously bodily injury to the driver
by hitting him in the head with a beer bottle and slicing his throat with a
knife before eventually leaving him on the side of the road in New York. The
taxicab driver survived.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Linares sentenced
Barahona to five years of supervised release and fined $1,500.
U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of the FBI,
under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Gregory W. Ehrie in Newark, the
Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor
Dennis Calo, and the Ridgewood and Hawthorne Police Departments, with the
investigation leading to today’s sentencing.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys
Elaine K. Lou and Karen D. Stringer of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal
Division in Newark.
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