Curtis Lee Rucker, Jr., Stolen Firearm Possession, North Carolina 2018

STATESVILLE, NC - Curtis Lee Rucker, Jr., 36, of Statesville, has been sentenced to 96 months in prison and three years of supervised release for illegally possessing a stolen firearm, with which he assaulted a female victim. U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell presided over Rucker's sentencing.

Curtis Lee Rucker, Jr. was convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon and sentenced to 96 months in prison. The crime occurred on June 30, 2018 in the early hours of the morning at the Times Gas Station, located at 1205 E. Garner Bagnal Blvd. in Statesville.

Rucker, who was previously convicted in 2015 for felon in possession of a firearm in State court, is prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition. The seized firearm, a black Ruger LCP .380 handgun, had been reported as stolen.

Rucker 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.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Murray thanked the ATF and the Statesville Police Department for their investigation of this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sanjeev Bhasker, of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte, prosecuted the case.

This case has been brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the U.S. Justice Department's program to reduce violent crime. The PSN approach emphasizes coordination between state and federal prosecutors and all levels of law enforcement to address gun crime, especially felons illegally possessing firearms and ammunition and violent and drug crimes that involve the use of firearms.

According to court records, plea documents, and statements made in court, the Statesville Police Department received a 9-1-1 call for a domestic disturbance at the Times Gas Station on June 30, 2018. Officers arrived at the scene and observed an individual, later identified as Rucker, matching the caller's description. Officers arrested Rucker and located nearby a firearm, loaded with two rounds of ammunition.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdnc/pr/statesville-man-sentenced-eight-years-possessing-stolen-firearm