GREENVILLE - United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that TYRONE MAURICE WILLIAMS, 29, of New Bern, was sentenced resulting from his earlier guilty plea to robbery and firearms charges. The charges stem from the July 24, 2012 armed robbery of the Dollar General store at 3699 Neuse Boulevard in New Bern and the Feb. 11, 2014 robbery of First Flight Federal Credit Union at 3127 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in New Bern. The defendant also pled to an unrelated firearm offense which occurred in Winterville on Aug. 16, 2012.
On Jan. 21, 2015, U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle sentenced WILLIAMS to a total sentence of 40 years in prison without parole. WILLIAMS received 20 years in prison for his plea to one count of robbery affecting interstate commerce, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1951; and one count of bank robbery, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2113(a). WILLIAMS was sentenced to 10 years in prison consecutive to the robbery sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 922(g)(1) and 924. Finally, WILLIAMS was sentenced to an additional 10 year consecutive sentence for using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, or possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c)(1)(A). This 10 year portion of the sentence resulted from the defendant’s shooting of two Dollar General employees during that robbery, for which WILLIAMS only obtained $600.00. The employees were seriously wounded as a result. WILLIAMS was ordered to be supervised for 5 years following release. WILLIAMS was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $422,377.16, which includes medical and counselling expenses for both victims. The $4,373 taken from First Flight Credit Union was recovered at the time of WILLIAMS’s arrest, which was minutes after the robbery.
Investigation of this case was conducted by the New Bern Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney John Bennett is prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
