Quasim Nichols, Armed Carjacking and Bribing Corrections Officer, New Jersey 2015

A Newark man was sentenced to 148 months in prison for his role in an armed carjacking and subsequent involvement in a scheme to bribe a corrections officer to smuggle contraband into the Essex County Correctional Facility.

Quasim Nichols, 30, previously pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of committing an armed carjacking and one count of conspiring with others, including Essex County Corrections Officer Stephon Solomon, to commit extortion under color of official right.

Nichols was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper in Trenton federal court on [no date provided].

According to the documents filed in this case, on May 28, 2012, Nichols and three men were traveling in a gray Dodge Magnum toward Elizabeth, New Jersey. Nichols was driving the vehicle. Upon arriving in Elizabeth, the three men exited the car and approached a 2005 BMW 645. The men pointed handguns in the direction of the BMW’s passengers and ordered them out of the car. Two of the men then entered the BMW and drove it away.

While driving away from the scene, multiple police vehicles activated their overhead lights and turned on their sirens in an effort to stop Nichols. Nichols continued to drive the Dodge Magnum at a high rate of speed from Elizabeth into Newark, drove through a red light and struck a vehicle at the intersection of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Market Street. The driver of the other vehicle suffered serious injury.

Nichols conspired with others, including Solomon, Dwayne Harper, and Darsell Davis, to pay cash bribes to Solomon so that he would smuggle contraband – including cell phones, tobacco, and marijuana – into the Essex County Correctional Facility. After Davis and Harper collected the contraband, Davis delivered the items and cash bribes to Solomon, who then smuggled the contraband to Nichols.

Nichols ultimately sold the marijuana and cell phones to other inmates. The inmates purchasing marijuana and cell phones had their friends and family pay for the items by sending Western Union money transfers to Nichols, who enlisted Davis and others to retrieve those payments. Davis obtained at least $4,300 in Western Union payments for Nichols.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Cooper sentenced Nichols to serve five years of supervised release.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/essex-county-new-jersey-man-sentenced-148-months-prison-armed-carjacking-and-bribing