Pennsylvania woman pleads guilty to carjacking family, taking off with infant

UPPER DARBY, Pa. (WHTM) — A Pennsylvania woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal carjacking and firearms charges after federal authorities say she carjacked a family in August.

Phillis Fugah, 24, of Upper Darby, was charged in November of 2024.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Fugah was accused of rushing a Honda Pilot parked on West Chester Pike in Upper Darby.

Fugah was accompanied with a man who fled after opening the passenger side door of the car.

Inside the car was a man in the backseat with his two young children, all waiting for the man’s wife to return.

Fugah got behind the wheel of the car and held the man at gunpoint, demanding money. The family’s five-year-old child bailed from the car and the man got out as well, telling Fugah that his infant child was still inside.

Fugah shot at the man, clipping his baseball cap and narrowly missing his head.

She then took off in the car, authorities alleged, and abandoned the car — and infant — not far away.

She will be sentenced Nov. 4 and faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison with a maximum possible sentence of life.