GEORGE E. B. HOLDING

CONTACT: 919/856-4530

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

MONDAY - April 30, 2007

MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO FIRST DEGREE
PREMEDITATED MURDER

GREENVILLE - United States Attorney George E. B. Holding announced that on April 19, 2007, ARTHUR JAMES CHARLAND, JR., 43, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, entered a plea of guilty pursuant to a plea agreement before Federal Magistrate Judge David W. Daniel in Greenville, North Carolina to first degree premeditated murder in the death of Linda Owens at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Fayetteville, North Carolina on December 12, 2005. A Criminal Indictment was filed by the United States Attorney’s Office on January 11, 2006. He is currently incarcerated pending a sentencing hearing on this charge before Chief Judge Louise W. Flanagan.

Investigation of the case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General, the Veterans Affairs Police Department, and the Fayetteville Police Department. The Government was represented by Assistant United States Attorney David L. Hayden and Special Assistant United States Attorney Barbara Cole.

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