Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

RALEIGH – United States Attorney Robert J. Higdon, Jr. announced that today in federal court, United States District Judge Louise W. Flanagan sentenced KEVIN EARL ELROD, 28, of Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina to 197 months imprisonment, followed by 5 years of supervised release.

ELROD was named in an Indictment filed on July 18, 2018 charging him with Robbery of a Business Engaged in Interstate Commerce and Brandishing and Discharging a Firearm in Furtherance of that Crime of Violence. On March 13, 2019, ELROD pled guilty to those charges.

On February 8, 2018, ELROD and a male juvenile entered the New Dixie Mini Mart in Roanoke Rapids. ELROD had a revolver in his hand. Both men had their faces covered. ELROD immediately discharged the weapon into the ceiling of the store and demanded money from the clerk. There were two customers in the store at the time of the robbery and ELROD forced them to lay on the ground. ELROD forced the clerk to the cash register and he and the juvenile stole approximately $250. The juvenile was apprehended the following day and implicated ELROD in the robbery. A search warrant was executed on ELROD’s home where law enforcement found clothing that was used during the course of the robbery. ELROD was apprehended a week after the robbery.

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.

That effort has been implemented through 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 violent crime rate, drug trafficking, and crimes against law enforcement. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/tbnc

The investigation of this case was conducted by the Roanoke Rapids Police Department as well as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Charity Wilson.

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