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Judge handed down lengthy prison sentence for Safaree Samuels’ childhood friend.
A man who robbed Love & Hip Hop star Safaree has been sentenced to 18 years in jail. The man, Shawn Harewood, is a childhood friend of Safaree and was accused of being the mastermind behind a robbery against Safaree and a friend in February 2018, NorthJersey reported.
During the incident, Safaree was robbed of jewelry in the parking lot of his luxury apartment complex in New Jersey four years ago. Harewood was tried and convicted by a jury on three counts of robbery, eluding the police, and resisting arrest.
However, the jury found him not guilty of charges – conspiracy to commit robbery and weapons charges in relation to the robbery of Safaree’s friend.
According to Judge Gary Wilcox, Harewood had set up the robbery that saw Safaree losing $180,000 worth of jewelry.
Wilcox sentenced Harewood to 10 years in jail, the maximum amount of time for eluding the police. He also received eight years in jail for the robbery charge. The sentences will run consecutively, and Harewood received a four years credit for time served.
After the trial, Bergen County Assistant Prosecutors Joe Torrie and Meg Kilzy shared that the prosecution was happy that justice was served for Safaree.
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“[Harewood’s] character is comprised of deceit, fraud, and untruthfulness,” Torrie had said in closing arguments.
In the meantime, Harewood’s lawyer Brain Neary said that his client was planning to appeal his sentence. He had also apologized to the victims shortly before the trial, where he shared regret for his “bad decisions” and added, “these moments do not define me, and they’re not reflective of me,” he said.
Back in 2018, Safaree shared that he was robbed in a video on Instagram.
“I just got robbed, two dudes with guns just ran up on me,” he said. “Had me face down on the floor with a gun to my head. They just took everything,” Safaree said.
In his victim impact statement, Safaree described the incident as traumatizing, especially since the robbers were known to him.
In the meantime, Harewood’s co-defendant Tacuma Ashman who is also his cousin, was convicted of first-degree robbery, resisting arrest, and weapons charges last year. A third defendant, Carl Cherry, pleaded guilty to conspiracy back in 2019.
