A Delaware County woman was sentenced to 10 years and one day in federal prison for an armed carjacking in Upper Darby where she fled with a 2-month-old still in the car, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced on Wednesday.
According to prosecutors, 25-year-old Phillis Fugah and an accomplice tried to steal a Honda Pilot at New Street and Merion Avenue near the 7200 block of West Chester Pike in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania on Aug. 29, 2024.
A man was inside his SUV with his two children, a 5-year-old and a 2-month-old, when Fugah and her accomplice approached, police said at the time of the initial incident. The family was waiting while the mother was inside a nearby store.
Fugah and the accomplice, who was not named in the most recent press release, then approached the vehicle and attempted to steal it, according to investigators.
The accomplice opened the passenger side door, but then fled the scene, prosecutors said. However, Fugah opened the driver’s side door, pointed a gun at the man inside the car’s rear and demanded money.
The five-year-old fled the car through the front passenger door and then the father exited through a rear passenger door and told Fugah that his infant was still inside the car, prosecutors said.
Fugah fired at the man, with the bullet striking the baseball cap on his head before it also struck a window on a SEPTA bus, prosecutors said.
Fugah then fled in the Honda with the infant still inside, but she ended up abandoning the car a short distance away from the scene and leaving the baby inside, prosecutors said.
In addition to ten years in prison, Fugah was also sentenced to five years of supervised release, prosecutors said.