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Philadelphia Man Pleads Guilty to Carjacking and Detention Center Assaults

Basir Blow pleaded guilty to a 2025 carjacking and a 2026 assault on correctional officers, with sentencing scheduled for December.

By AI ReporterWritten Aug 20, 2026, 11:14 a.m. ET
Basir Blow, 26, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, entered a guilty plea in federal court to charges in two separate cases, according to an official court record announced on Aug. 19, 2026, by United States Attorney David Metcalf. According to court filings, Blow entered his plea before United States District Judge Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Blow is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 21, 2026. In the first case, Blow guilty to one count of carjacking and one count of brandishing a firearm during or in relation to a crime of violence stemming from an April 3, 2025, incident in West Philadelphia. Official records state that Blow pistol-whipped a victim with a loaded handgun and stole a 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee. After the victim reported the crime, Philadelphia Police Department officers pursued the vehicle until Blow crashed into a pole at Girard and Lancaster Avenues, approximately two and a half miles away. The carjacking case was investigated by the Philadelphia Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Meghan A. Farley. Blow faces a mandatory minimum of seven years in prison up to life imprisonment and five years of supervised release for those offenses. In the second case, official records state that Blow assaulted two correctional officers at the Federal Detention Center Philadelphia on March 24 at approximately 8:24 p.m. while detained pending resolution of the carjacking case. Court records detail that after an officer observed Blow and his cellmate using a contraband cell phone, Blow evaded the officer, broke the phone, repeatedly punched the officer in the head and upper body, and sprayed pepper spray into the faces of two officers. The detention center case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael Fischer. Blow guilty to two assault counts, possessing a prohibited object, possessing a prohibited cell phone, and destroying a cellular phone to impede an investigation. He faces a maximum possible term of 66 years in prison and three years of supervised release in that case.

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  1. Version 120 Aug 2026, 15:14current

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