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Press Release

Fayetteville Man Sentenced for Ilegally Possessing a Firearm

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of North Carolina

NEW BERN – United States Attorney Robert J. Higdon, Jr. announced that today in federal court, United States District Judge Louise W. Flanagan sentenced DAMIAN GUTHARY, 24, of Fayetteville to 70 months imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release.

GUTHARY was named in an Indictment filed on April 8, 2019 charging him with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon.  On June 20, 2019, GUTHARY pled guilty to that charge. 

According to the investigation, on March 7, 2019, the Fayetteville Police Department responded to a shooting incident on Murchison Road in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The investigation revealed that the defendant and another vehicle were involved in a shooting and car chase down Murchison Road that resulted in multiple car crashes, a power outage, and non-life-threatening injuries to innocent bystanders. At the scene, law enforcement recovered a stolen firearm that was used in the shooting in a disabled vehicle associated with the defendant. At the time of the offense, the defendant was a convicted felon and prohibited from possessing firearms. Once detained, the defendant admitted to possessing the firearm and using it in the shooting.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  Since 2017 the United States Department of Justice has reinvigorated the PSN program and has targeted violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

That effort has been implemented through the Take Back North Carolina Initiative of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina. This initiative emphasizes the regional assignment of federal prosecutors to work with law enforcement and District Attorney’s Offices in those communities on a sustained basis to reduce the violent crime rate, drug trafficking, and crimes against law enforcement.

The investigation of this case was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Fayetteville Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney Chad E. Rhoades prosecuted the case for the government.

Updated October 8, 2019

Topic
Project Safe Neighborhoods