Asheboro Man Sentenced for Possession of Ammunition

GREENSBORO – An Asheboro, North Carolina man was sentenced today in Winston-Salem to 9 years in prison after pleading guilty to a firearm charge, announced Acting United States Attorney Randall S. Galyon of the Middle District of North Carolina (MDNC).

MUSIN SHABORR ROBERTS, age 22, was sentenced to 108 months imprisonment plus 3 years supervised release by the Honorable Loretta C. Biggs, Senior United States District Judge in the United States District Court for the MDNC.

According to court records, on June 30, 2023, an officer with the Greensboro Police Department (GPD) saw people standing around a car in the parking lot of a Greensboro Housing Authority property. Aware of recent violent crime in the area as well as issues with trespassing on that property, the officer asked the parties to provide identifications to ensure no one was banned from the property. ROBERTS identified himself as “Justin Jones.” The officer was eventually able to identify ROBERTS and learned that ROBERTS had active warrants for arrest. ROBERTS was arrested and the GPD officer found a round of 9mm ammunition in ROBERTS’ left front pants pocket.

The outstanding arrest warrant related to an incident which was the basis for a sentencing enhancement today. The Court found, after an evidentiary hearing, that ROBERTS and four to six other individuals went to a party in Asheboro on June 24, 2023, wearing ski masks and long-sleeved jackets and opened fire on the partygoers, striking four men, one in the back of the head. The Court characterized it as “a planned, coordinated, cold-blooded attack.”  Charges against ROBERTS in Randolph County relating to that incident are still pending.

At the time of his arrest in Greensboro, ROBERTS had been previously convicted of felony possession of a stolen firearm (Randolph County, 2022) and was sentenced to a suspended term of imprisonment exceeding one year. Thus, at the time of the instant offense, ROBERTS was legally prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition.

ROBERTS pleaded guilty on June 5, 2024, to one count of felon in possession of ammunition, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(8).

The case was investigated by the Asheboro Police Department, the Greensboro Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The case was prosecuted by MDNC Special Assistant United States Attorney Mary Ann Courtney.