Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Raleigh Man Sentenced to 20 Years as an Armed Career Criminal
RALEIGH – The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, John Stuart Bruce, announced that yesterday in federal court, Chief United States District Judge James C. Dever, III sentenced RICKIE MARKIECE ATKINSON, 35, of Raleigh, to 240 months of imprisonment followed by 5 years of supervised release.
On February 6, 2017, ATKINSON pled guilty to one count of being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition.
On September 10, 2015, officers with the Raleigh Police Department (RPD) were conducting surveillance in an effort to locate ATKINSON, who was wanted for charges stemming from a shooting which occurred on September 1, 2015. Officers observed ATKINSON leaving the residence of his girlfriend and get into a vehicle; they arrested him shortly thereafter. Officers located five rounds of .38 caliber hollow-point ammunition in ATKINSON’S vehicle and a .38 caliber revolver, loaded with the same .38 caliber ammunition , under the mattress in the master bedroom of his girlfriend’s residence. On February 12, 2016, ATKINSON contacted his girlfriend from jail and asked her to “take responsibility” for the firearm, which she declined to do.
On November 14, 2015, RPD officers, again looking for ATKINSON, responded to a gas station on Person Street in Raleigh. They observed ATKINSON hunched over in the back seat of a vehicle and arrested him. Officers located a loaded .45 caliber handgun in the seat back directly in front of where ATKINSON had been sitting. The firearm had an obliterated serial number. Officers recovered an additional magazine containing .45 caliber ammunition in ATKINSON’S pants pocket. Further investigation revealed that the firearm had been reported stolen on November 7, 2015. A serial number restoration was later completed on the firearm which revealed the number to confirm that weapon was the one reported stolen.
Several threatening Facebook posts were later discovered by investigators on ATKINSON’S Facebook page. His Facebook page included a picture of ATKINSON holding a shotgun on September 30, 2015, and a picture of a handgun, which was posted on October 10, 2015.
The investigation was conducted by the Raleigh Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF). Assistant U.S. Attorneys Erin Blondel and Ellie Morales prosecuted the case for the government.