United States Attorney Anne M. Tompkins
Western District of North Carolina
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – On Friday, October 26, 3012, U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr. ordered a Gastonia man to serve 130 months in prison for assaulting a federal officer, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Judge Cogburn also ordered Charlie Wayne Bryant, 47, of Gastonia, to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term.
Curtis B. Huston, Threat Management Branch Chief for the Southeast Region of the Federal Protective Service, and Guy Fallen, Special Agent in Charge of the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General (SSA-OIG), Atlanta Field Division join U.S. Attorney Tompkins in making today’s announcement.
In March 2011, a federal grand jury sitting in Charlotte charged Bryant with one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees of the United States. Bryant pleaded guilty to the charge in December 2011. According to filed court documents and court proceedings, on February 8, 2011, Bryant assaulted a Protective Security Officer at a Social Security Office branch located in Gastonia. Witnesses testified at the sentencing hearing that Bryant became disruptive in the Social Security Office and punched the security officer in the mouth. The security officer sustained a bodily injury from the altercation. A struggle ensued and Bryant continued to resist until the Gastonia Police Department arrived, court records show. The security officer was taken to Gaston Memorial Hospital where he was treated for his injuries. In issuing the sentence in the case, Judge Cogburn stated this was “a serious offense.”
Bryant has been in local federal custody in the Western District of North Carolina since his arrest in April 2011. Upon designation of a federal facility, Bryant will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.
The investigation was led by the Department of Homeland Security, National Protection and Programs Directorate, Federal Protective Service with the assistance of the SSA-OIG. The prosecution for the government was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Lynn Dillon of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte.
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