Iron Station, N.C. Man Sentenced In Connection With Home Burglaries

STATESVILLE, N.C. – On Monday, October 6, 2014, U.S. District Judge Richard L. Voorhees sentenced Miquan Limik Smith, 27, of Iron Station, N.C. to 63 months in prison, followed by 24 months of supervised release for conspiracy to receive stolen firearms by committing burglaries and violating other federal firearms laws, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

Wayne L. Dixie, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Charlotte Field Division and Sheriff Phillip H. Redmond of the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office join U.S. Attorney Tompkins in making today’s announcement.

According to court documents and yesterday’s sentencing hearing, on or about January 31, 2013, Smith and his co-conspirator, Trishton Philemon Johnson, 26, of Charlotte, carried out two home burglaries in Iredell County, stealing firearms and other items of value. Court records show that law enforcement officers were alerted to the break-ins, identified the vehicle the defendants were in, and pulled the vehicle over on Interstate 77 in Iredell County. According to court records, the defendants drove off and, after a high speed chase, law enforcement officers stopped the vehicle. Johnson was arrested at the vehicle stop but Smith, who had fled the scene on foot, was arrested shortly thereafter.

Johnson pleaded guilty in July 2013 to one count of receiving stolen firearms and aiding and abetting. He was sentenced in March 2014 to 24 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release.

In November 2013, a federal jury convicted Smith on all charged violations, including one count of conspiracy to receive stolen firearms by committing burglaries, one count of receiving stolen firearms, and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.

Smith has been in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

The investigation was handled by ATF and the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jennifer L. Dillon and Kenneth M. Smith of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte.