Convenience Store And Cellular Telephone Store Robber Sentenced

GREENVILLE - United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that in federal court today Senior United States District Judge Malcolm J. Howardsentenced JAMES ARTHUR ACKLIN, JR., 21, of Greenville, North Carolina, to 228 months imprisonment and 5 years of supervised release.  ACKLIN was also ordered to pay restitution, in the total amount of $6,871.08.  ACKLIN was sentenced for his role in a 12-day spree of seven convenience store and cellular telephone store robberies in and around Greenville in April and May of 2011.

On April 22, 2011, ACKLIN robbed, at gunpoint, the Wilco-Hess convenience store on South Memorial Drive in Greenville, netting $771.00.  On April 25, 2011, ACKLIN robbed, at gunpoint, the Kangaroo Express convenience store on Charles Boulevard in Greenville, netting $176.68. On April 27, 2011, ACKLIN robbed, at gunpoint, the Kangaroo Express convenience store on Eastern Pines Road in Greenville, netting $96.46.  On April 28, 2011, ACKLIN robbed, at gunpoint, the Kangaroo Express convenience store on Southeast Greenville Boulevard in Greenville, netting $66.00.  On April 29, ACKLIN, along with Julius Deshawn Hobbs, robbed, at gunpoint, the Sunshine Wireless store on Third Street in Ayden, netting $3,288.97.  On May 2, 2011, ACKLIN, again with Hobbs, robbed, at gunpoint, the U.S. Cellular store on Winterville Parkway in Winterville, netting $1,393.00.  Finally, on May 3, 2011, ACKLIN, along with Hobbs and Marquail Earl Mouring, robbed, at gunpoint, the U.S. Cellular store on Southwest Greenville Boulevard in Greenville, netting $1,080.00.

On November 8, 2012, ACKLIN pled guilty to seven counts of Hobbs Act Robbery, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1951, and a count of using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, or possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c)(1)(A).

Co-defendant Julius Deshawn Hobbs of Greenville was previously sentenced to 132 months for his role in the three cellular telephone store robberies.  Co-defendant Marquail Earl Mouring was previously sentenced to 108 months for his role in the May 3, 2011 robbery of the U.S. Cellular store on Greenville Boulevard in Greenville.

This case was part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) initiative which encourages federal, state, and local agencies to cooperate in a unified “team effort” against gun crime, targeting repeat offenders who continually plague their communities.

Investigation of this case was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Greenville Police Department, the Ayden Police Department, and the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office.  Assistant United States Attorney John Bennett is prosecuting the case.