PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that Rashad Johnson-Price, 20, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today to 135 months in prison, five years of supervised release, and a $300 special assessment by United States District Court Judge Michael M. Baylson, for two counts of carjacking and one count of carrying and using a firearm during, and in relation to, the commission of a crime of violence.
Johnson-Price was indicted on those violations in January of 2023. He pleaded guilty in September 2023, before the late Honorable Gene E.K. Pratter, admitting to carjacking a Lyft driver with an accomplice at approximately 4 a.m. on August 9, 2022, in the Frankford section of Philadelphia. As part of his plea, the defendant also admitted to carrying and using a firearm to commit this offense. Then, on August 13, 2022, the defendant and an accomplice carjacked an Uber driver at approximately 5 a.m. In both instances, the defendant and an accomplice requested a ride-share vehicle and when they arrived at or near their destination, they carjacked the vehicle from the ride-share driver at gunpoint.
“The victims in this case were just trying to make an honest living when two criminals threatened them at gunpoint,” said U.S. Attorney Romero. “It must have been terrifying, especially in the early hours of the morning, with few other people around. We and our partners on the Philadelphia Carjacking Task Force will not allow carjackers like Rashad Johnson-Price to commit these violent crimes with impunity. He’ll now be living his 20s behind bars.”
“Luring victims through their ride-share service to take their cars and livelihood at gunpoint was a particularly awful crime that will not go unpunished,” said Eric J. DeGree, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Philadelphia Field Division. “Working with our Philadelphia Carjacking Task Force partners, ATF Philadelphia Field Division applies our unique forensic and investigative tools to ensure justice for the victims and to make our communities safer.”
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Philadelphia Police Department and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Robert E. Eckert and Lauren E. Stram.
