Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

RALEIGH — The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Robert J. Higdon, Jr., announced that today, Chief United States District Judge Terrence W. Boyle, sentenced MICHAEL DEVONTE HILL, 26, of Robeson County to 300 months’ imprisonment, followed by 5 years of supervised release. On April 30, 2019, HILL pled guilty to five counts: three counts of Hobbs Act robbery, one count of discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and one count of felon in possession of a firearm.

The government’s evidence established that in July 2017, HILL robbed three Fayetteville-area convenience stores. On July 25, 2017, HILL entered the Circle K on Rosehill Road and jumped the counter while brandishing a handgun. He collected $205 from the teller and ran from the store. As he fled, he fired a round in the parking lot in an apparent attempt to scare a witness who had driven into the lot. Law enforcement recovered the spent shell casing for ballistic testing.

Three days later, on July 28, 2017, HILL and another man entered a Circle K on Yadkin Road in Fayetteville just before midnight. They robbed the store of $246 dollars. In the process, HILL struck the cashier with a firearm.

Finally, on July 30, 2017, HILL and another man robbed another Circle K, this time on Owens Drive in Fayetteville. HILL struck the clerk with a firearm and threatened to kill them, before taking off with $114. HILL’s face was covered in each robbery, but the surveillance video confirmed that he wore the same shoes and possessed the same firearm each time.

Ballistic testing revealed that the July 25 shell casing matched a Taurus 9mm handgun that had been reported stolen out of Fayetteville earlier in July. The theft victim identified HILL as the person who had taken the gun. Based on this information, officers arrested HILL, who was found to still be in possession of the same Taurus handgun.

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 is also part of 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. For more information about this initiative please click

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/tbnc.

The investigation of this case was conducted by the Fayetteville Police Department, the Sanford Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). Assistant United States Attorney Jake D. Pugh represented the government.

# # #

News releases are available on the U.S. Attorney’s webpage located at www.usdoj.gov/usao/nce. Follow us on Twitter @USAO_EDNC