ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Kenneth Dewayne Sherlin, a/k/a Richard Dale Lawrence, Jr., 32, of Arden, N.C. was sentenced in federal court today to 77 months in prison for a federal firearms violation, announced Jill Westmoreland Rose, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger also sentenced Sherlin to three years of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Rose is joined in making today’s announcement by C.J. Hyman, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Charlotte Field Division, and Sheriff Van Duncan of the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office.
According to filed court documents and today’s hearing, on or about Oct. 10, 2014, a deputy with the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office conducted a traffic stop of the car Sherlin was driving. During the traffic stop, law enforcement recovered three firearms from inside the vehicle, including a sawed-off shotgun, and ammunition. Law enforcement also discovered that Sherlin had an outstanding arrest warrant for carrying a concealed weapon. According to statements made in court today, Sherlin is prohibited from possessing a firearm due to prior convictions in North Carolina, including discharging a weapon into occupied property, two counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon, one count of second degree kidnapping, one count of conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon and multiple breaking and entering and larceny convictions.
In June 2015, Sherlin pleaded guilty to one count of possession of an unregistered firearm, that being the sawed-off shotgun. He has been in federal custody since October 2014. He 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 Buncombe County Sheriff’s office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John Pritchard of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
