PHILADELPHIA - United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Richard Pridgen, 20, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 214 months' imprisonment, five years' supervised release, and $11,709.82 in restitution by United States District Judge Juan R. Sánchez for committing two carjackings in the city just days apart.

The defendant was charged by superseding indictment in August 2024 and pleaded guilty in October of last year to two counts of carjacking and two counts of using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

As detailed in court filings and statements, the first carjacking was on July 3, 2023, when Pridgen carjacked a victim, who had been sitting in his parked blue Jeep, at gunpoint. Pridgen had at least one co-conspirator who drove him there in a separate vehicle.

Then, on July 6, 2023, Pridgen and two co-defendants, Raheem Bivens and Raheim Brown, used the first victim's blue Jeep to carjack a second victim of his white Jeep. Pridgen and Bivens both pointed firearms with extended magazines at the victim, demanding the car and keys. Pridgen and Bivens then fled in the second victim's white Jeep, with Bivens behind the wheel.

Philadelphia police located both Jeeps quickly and pursued all three men. Bivens crashed the white Jeep into several other cars, and Brown, who was driving the blue Jeep, crashed into another car. All the men ran, but all were apprehended, and police recovered both guns. Pridgen had the second victim's identification on him when he was apprehended.

Pridgen carried out these carjackings right after his release from juvenile state custody for committing several violent gunpoint commercial robberies in 2021.

Co-defendants Bivens, 22, and Brown, 25, both also of Philadelphia, pleaded guilty in 2024 to one count of carjacking and one count of using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. They were each sentenced to 14 years in prison and five years of supervised release, with Bivens also ordered to pay $11,709.82 in restitution.

This case was investigated by the Philadelphia Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Katherine Shulman and Special Assistant United States Attorney Alexander Bowerman.