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Department of Justice United States Attorney Candace G. Hill Contact: Dawn Masden |
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September 3, 2009
FORMER FUGITIVE BYRON PERKINS SENTENCED ON FEDERAL NARCOTICS AND WEAPONS CHARGES
– After a 15-month absence, apprehension in Mexico
LOUISVILLE, KY - Byron Keith Perkins, age 40, of Knifley, Kentucky, was sentenced on September 2, 2009, to 42 years' and 5 months' imprisonment on charges of robbery, using a firearm during the robbery, and drug trafficking in marijuana, Candace G. Hill, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, and Paul Vido, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Louisville Field Division, jointly announced today. Chief Judge Thomas Russell also sentenced Perkins to 5 years' supervised release following incarceration. There is no parole in the federal judicial system.
Perkins had pled guilty to the charges on November 18, 2005. In so doing, he admitted that on March 12, 2005, he had been the passenger in a vehicle stopped by the Lebanon Police Department. In the trunk of the vehicle, Perkins had 9 ounces of marijuana which he intended to sell. Perkins had further admitted that on March 16, 2005, he, along with Michael Tucker, unlawfully entered the home of Wes Mann in Campbellsville, Kentucky. Perkins and Tucker entered for the purpose of robbing Mann of narcotics and money. Perkins was armed with a .22 caliber rifle at the time. Perkins admitted to brandishing the firearm during the robbery and using it to strike Mann in the face, breaking his nose.
Perkins had previously been convicted of felony offenses to include burglary in the third degree, obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, burglary in the first degree, bank robbery and using a firearm during the robbery.
This was a Project Backfire prosecution. Project Backfire is a cooperative effort by the Jefferson County Attorney’s Office, the Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorneys Office, the Louisville Metro Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the United States Attorney’s Office to ensure that firearm offenses are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the state and federal law.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert B. Bonar. The Louisville Field Office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) conducted the investigation in partnership with the Lebanon Police Department, the Campbellsville Police Department, and the Kentucky State Police, as part of ATF’s ongoing commitment to reduce violent crime and other threats to public safety.
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