Man Sentenced to More Than 4 Years for Felon in Possession of a Firearm

RALEIGH – United States Attorney Robert J. Higdon, Jr. announced that in federal court yesterday, Chief United States District Judge Terrence W. Boyle sentenced CHARLES JUNIOR ANDERSON, 55, of Little River, South Carolina, to 55 months’ imprisonment, followed by a 3 year term of supervised released.

On February 21, 2019, ANDERSON was named in a one-count Indictment in which he was charged with Felon in Possession of a Firearm.  On September 17, 2019, ANDERSON pled guilty to the Indictment. 

On October 26, 2018, Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office Vice and Narcotics officers observed a vehicle leave a known drug area and commit multiple traffic infractions while traveling to a grocery store parking lot in Calabash, NC, where the vehicle came to a stop and was approached by officers.  A firearm was observed on the floor of the front passenger seat of the vehicle where ANDERSON was seated.  ANDERSON admitted that the firearm belonged to him.  This was ANDERSON’s third federal conviction for Felon in Possession of a Firearm.

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.  For more information about this initiative click here:  https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/tbnc. 

The investigation of this case was conducted by the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office, Vice and Narcotics Division, with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).  Assistant United States Attorney Bryan M. Stephany prosecuted the case for the government.