Charlotte Man Sentenced to 16 Years as an Armed Career Criminal

GREENVILLE – The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, John Stuart Bruce, announced that yesterday in federal court, Senior United States District Judge Malcolm J. Howard sentenced LARICE SIMMONS, 38, of Charlotte, to 192 months of imprisonment followed by 5 years of supervised release.

On March 14, 2017, SIMMONS pled guilty to one count of being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm.

On April 9, 2016, a confidential informant (CI) reported to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that Nelson O’Nell Harrison and LARICE SIMMONS were trying to identify a drug dealer to rob. Agents then recorded Harrison and SIMMONS planning to murder and rob a drug dealer and an associate. Harrison’s and SIMMONS’S plans included details about how they would distract and then gun down the intended victims and then cover up the murders. ATF agents intercepted and arrested Harrison and SIMMONS at a gas station in Kinston, North Carolina as they were driving to the planned robbery location. Agents recovered a 9 mm firearm from the area where SIMMONS had been sitting in the vehicle. Harrison also pled guilty to Possession of a Firearm by a Felon and was sentenced to 108 months of imprisonment on August 8, 2017.

The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) and the Kinston Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Blondel prosecuted the case for the government.