Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

RALEIGH – Robert J. Higdon, Jr., the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, announces that Senior United States District Judge W. Earl Britt sentenced CALVIN BRUCE BEARD, a/k/a "40 Cal.", 39, of Fayetteville to 262 months’ imprisonment, followed by 5 years of supervised released.

 

On October 1, 2018, BEARD pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 28 grams or more of cocaine base (crack) and a quantity of cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

 

In April 2017, the Fayetteville Police Department, with the assistance of a confidential informant, conducted controlled purchases of cocaine, cocaine base, and/or firearms from BEARD, a convicted felon. During drug transactions, BEARD sold the confidential informant an SKS assault rifle and a fully-automatic Yugoslavian machine gun, both which contained more than 15 rounds of ammunition.

 

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. Since 2017 the United States Department of Justice has reinvigorated the PSN program and has targeted violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

 

This case was brought using the Take Back North Carolina Initiative of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina. This initiative emphasizes the regional assignment of federal prosecutors to work with law enforcement and District Attorney’s Offices on a sustained basis in those communities to reduce the violence crime rate, drug trafficking, and crimes against law enforcement.

 

The investigation of this case was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Fayetteville Police Department.

 

Assistant United States Attorney Robert J. Dodson prosecuted the case for the government.