An admitted teen gang member faces a 26-year sentence after pleading guilty to several charges related to carjacking a woman at gunpoint and the shooting of a juvenile.
Zion Moore, 19, was set to go to trial next week, but instead pleaded guilty Wednesday to several charges, including first-degree gang criminality — the first conviction of its kind in Atlantic County, Prosecutor Damon Tyner said.
This “represents the ongoing cooperative efforts of the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office Gangs, Guns and Narcotics Litigation Unit, the Atlantic City Police Department and the Pleasantville Police Department to prosecute gang violence throughout Atlantic County,” Tyner said in a release.
Moore admitted to he carjacked a woman and pointed a gun at her in order to control the vehicle she was driving, Tyner said.
Moore and Donte Brooks were arrested after an investigation by Detectives Miguel Lugo, Angelo Maldonado and Luz Gresham of the Pleasantville Police Department’s Violent Crimes Unit. Brooks previously pleaded guilty to carjacking and possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose. His plea deal calls for a 10-year sentence requiring him to serve 85 percent, or 8½ years, before he is eligible for parole.
Moore also admitted to first-degree carjacking, and second-degree charges of possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose and aggravated assault.
Under the plea agreement, Moore faces a sentence of 26 years in prison, where he will have to serve at least 13.6 years before he is eligible for parole.
Moore also admitted to the shooting of a juvenile in Atlantic City on Oct. 12, 2016. The victim was not his intended target, Moore said.
He also used the gun as a member of the Head Shot Gang — associated with the city’s Back Maryland neighborhood — in a series of retaliatory shootings against the Stanley Holmes-affiliated FettiGeez gang, Moore admitted.
Now-retired Sgt. Joseph Iacovone, Detective Innocenzo Visceglia and the Atlantic City Police Department’s Violent Crimes Unit investigated this case.
Moore is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 20 before Superior Court Judge Bernard DeLury.
