Jalaal Claitt, 20, of Atlanta, Georgia, was sentenced on Aug. 5 to 162 months in prison, five years of supervised release, and $7,400 in restitution by United States District Judge Juan R. Sánchez for committing two armed carjackings.
Claitt was charged by superseding indictment in April of last year for his roles in a September 2024 carjacking in West Philadelphia and an October 2024 carjacking in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. In February, Claitt entered a plea of guilty before United States Magistrate Judge Jose R. Arteaga to two counts of carjacking and one count of carrying, using, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
According to the superseding indictment and other public filings, on September 17, 2024, Victim #1 parked on the 300 block of 62nd Street in Philadelphia when three males approached him—later identified as Claitt and co-defendants Kristian Jackson and Legend Hall. One defendant asked Victim #1 for a ride; after refusal, two males produced handguns and ordered Victim #1 out of the vehicle. The group then drove off with Victim #1’s black Chevy Malibu along with an iPhone 14 and approximately $500 left inside.
Court filings further detailed that on October 1, 2024, Claitt, Hall and others placed an order at Slices and Moore pizza shop in Upper Darby. When the delivery driver (Victim #2) arrived with the order, he was confronted at gunpoint by Claitt and others who took his wallet, phone, car keys, as well as proceeds from the pizza shop before fleeing with his vehicle.
Co-defendant Jackson pleaded guilty to the West Philadelphia carjacking case earlier this year and received an eight-and-a-half-year prison sentence. Co-defendant Hall pleaded guilty to both incidents involving West Philadelphia and Upper Darby; he was sentenced this April to eleven-and-a-half years’ imprisonment.
The case was investigated by the FBI Philadelphia Violent Crimes Task Force alongside the Philadelphia Police Department with assistance from Upper Darby Township Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Robert E. Eckert and Samantha A. Arena prosecuted.