Man sentenced to 12 years in prison for Northeast Philly carjacking

A man will spend a dozen years in prison for pistol whipping a victim and stealing their vehicle and wallet during a carjacking in Northeast Philadelphia two years ago.

Brian Amerman, also known as “BD” and “Fat,” was sentenced to 12 years in prison, five years of supervised release and $2,500 in restitution, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, announced.

Amerman, 21, was charged by indictment in February 2024 and pleaded guilty in April 2025 to carjacking, aiding and abetting, and other related offenses.

The incident occurred shortly before 1 a.m. on May 12, 2023, when a victim parked their Nissan Murano next to an ATM in the parking lot of a shopping plaza on the 6500 block of Roosevelt Boulevard. As the victim got out of the car and began using the ATM, Amerman and another robber got out of a nearby car and approached them.

Amerman was armed with a semiautomatic pistol with an extended magazine at the time. He shoved the gun in the victim’s face and then struck them in the head with the weapon. Amerman and the second robber then stole the victim’s car keys and wallet. The other robber drove off in the victim’s Nissan Murano while Amerman returned to the vehicle that he had arrived in and fled the scene with the driver.

About an hour later, Amerman and two other robbers arrived in a grey Honda Accord at a BP gas station in Oxford Circle, Pennsylvania, about 1.2 miles away from where the carjacking took place. Amerman and the driver of the Honda tried to use the victim’s bank card at the gas station but charges were declined twice.

Then on May 21, 2023, Philadelphia police recovered the license plate from the stolen Nissan Murano inside the trunk of a crashed grey Honda Accord that matched the description of the vehicle that pulled into the BP gas station.

Investigators later obtained a search warrant for Amerman’s Instagram account which showed a photo from the day before the carjacking of him posing with a black and tan semiautomatic pistol with an extended magazine, consistent with the weapon that was used during the carjacking.

A video on the account also showed Amerman the day after the carjacking pointing the weapon at the camera. Investigators also said the account included photos and videos of Amerman that were posted around the same time of the carjacking showing him wearing the same clothes he wore when he committed the crime.

Amerman was later arrested by U.S. Marshals on the 2000 block of East Rush Street in Kensington on May 24, 2023. At the time, Amerman also had an active warrant for a probation violation on simple assault charges in connection to a separate incident in 2022, officials said.

Amerman was also involved in at least five other shootings in Philadelphia between May 12, 2023, and May 21, 2023, according to police.