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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Wednesday, March 8, 2006

GREENVILLE - United States Attorney Frank D. Whitney announced that ANDREW BROWN, 50, of Elizabeth City, N. C., was sentenced in federal court in Raleigh on Tuesday, March 7, 2006. On December 13, 2005, BROWN was convicted by a jury of the February 9, 2005 robbery of First Citizens Bank, 310 S. Road Street in Elizabeth City. The defendant was charged in an indictment filed on July 14, 2005.

U.S. District Judge James C. Dever, III sentenced BROWN to the maximum sentence of 240 months in prison followed by a supervised release term of three years. Because of his prior felony convictions, including multiple felony convictions for assault, BROWN was sentenced as a career offender under federal sentencing guidelines. While unarmed during the robbery, the evidence demonstrated that BROWN threatened violence by pretending to have a gun, and that he attempted to kidnap one of the victim tellers to facilitate his escape from the bank. He ultimately stole that teller’s vehicle to make his getaway.

Investigation of the case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Elizabeth City Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney John H. Bennett of the Greenville branch office is handling the case for the Government.

News releases are available on the U. S. Attorney’s web page at www.usdoj.gov/usao/nce within 48 hours of release.