FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

WEDNESDAY - September 7, 2011

ROBBER PLEADS GUILTY

RALEIGH - United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that in federal court yesterday JOSEPH CHRISTOPHER BOYDEN, 22, pled guilty before Senior United State District Judge W. Earl Britt to two counts of Hobbs Act robbery, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1951 and two counts of using and carrying a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 924.

According to the Criminal Indictment returned on March 10, 2011, while carrying a short-barreled rifle, on September 25, 2010, BOYDEN along with co-defendant Perry Rashawn Wilkins, robbed the Landmark Pick-Up Grocery Store on East Fifth Street in Greenville, North Carolina, of approximately $600. The following day, BOYDEN, armed with a short-barreled shotgun and accompanied by Wilkins, robbed the Wilco-Hess Convenience Store on Highway 43 North in Greenville, North Carolina, of $760.

At sentencing, set for December 5, 2011, BOYDEN, who is a resident of Greenville, North Carolina, faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment for each count of robbery. For each count of using and carrying a firearm, he faces up to a life-term of imprisonment consecutive to any other sentence imposed.

This case was part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) initiative which encourages federal, state, and local agencies to cooperate in a unified “team effort” against gun crime, targeting repeat offenders who continually plague their communities.

Investigation of this case was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Greenville Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney John Bennett is serving as prosecution for the government.

News releases are available on the U. S. Attorney’s web page at www.usdoj.gov/usao/nce within 48 hours of release.