South Carolina Man Sentenced for 2022 Patrick County Gun Store Burglary

ROANOKE, Va. – A South Carolina man, who burglarized a Patrick County, Virginia gun store in the pre-dawn hours of September 22, 2022, was sentenced recently to 100 months in federal prison.

Bradley Wayne McGraw, 43, of Gaffney, S.C., pled guilty earlier this year to one count of stealing firearms from a federal firearms licensee and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. A second defendant, Justin Whitaker, of Mooresville, North Carolina, was sentenced earlier this month.

According to court documents, in September 2022, McCraw and Whitaker stole a truck, attached a chain from it to the back door of the Rabbit Ridge Guns Shop and Range, and yanked it open. Surveillance video captured them wearing masks and entering the store where they proceeded to steal more than a dozen firearms, including shotguns, rifles, and pistols.

United States Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh and James VanVliet, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, made the announcement.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case with assistance from the Patrick County Sheriff’s Office. The Sheriffs’ Offices in Cherokee County, South Carolina, Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Cleveland County, North Carolina also assisted with the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin B. Johnson is prosecuting the case.