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A Pikeville man has been sentenced to 147 months in prison for committing armed robberies in Kenly and Selma, according to an August 11, 2021 press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of North Carolina. Richard Lavar Carter entered his guilty plea on April 13, 2021.

According to court documents and other information presented in court, Carter and another unidentified subject committed two armed robberies in Johnston County in the early morning hours of October 15, 2019.

“Around 3:00am, video surveillance footage from a Waffle House in Kenly, North Carolina, showed Carter brandishing a handgun at employees before fleeing the store with money from the register,” stated the release. “Just an hour later, video surveillance footage from the New Dixie Mart in Selma, North Carolina, showed Carter and another unidentified male subject brandishing a handgun and an AK-style rifle and robbing the store.

“During this robbery, Carter assaulted one of the store clerks with his handgun, Investigators were able to identify Carter’s face from the store video,” the release continued.

Carter was arrested on state charges on October 18, 2019. He was charged federally in April of 2020 and transferred to federal custody in May of 2020.

G. Norman Acker III, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge W. Earl Britt. The Kenly Police Department, the Selma Police Department, the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Aakash Singh prosecuted.

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