Bryant sentenced for rape, assaults
By Jack Stephens
Published in News on June 3, 2005 2:31 PM
A man who had robbed and assaulted small shopkeepers and raped a woman two years ago in eastern North Carolina has been sentenced to 55 to 68 years in prison for his crimes in Wayne County.
Marcus Devon Bryant, 26, of Spring Lake pleaded guilty in Wayne County Superior to two counts of armed robbery and one count of first-degree rape.
The sentence will run at the same time as one Bryant is serving in Cumberland County for similar crimes.
Bryant
Bryant was sentenced by Judge Jerry Braswell of Goldsboro in Wayne County Superior Court to 420 to 513 months in prison for the rape of a shopkeeper's wife on Aug. 6, 2003.
Bryant and another man had followed the Asian business owner as he brought home the day's receipts to his apartment on Lockhaven Drive. The suspects barged inside and held the couple at gunpoint. Bryant raped the wife, and the pair stole about $2,000 and other property.
Bryant also was sentenced to 120 to 153 months in prison after pleading guilty to the armed robbery of the Old Quaker House Gift Shop on U.S. 70 East on July 29, 2003.
An employee told sheriff's deputies that two men entered the store. One went behind the counter, brandished a handgun and demanded money as the other acted a lookout. The gunman then took $50 from a employee's purse and ordered both employees to stay in a back room. The pair then fled.
Bryant was sentenced to 120 to 153 months for the armed robbery of the Olde Country Store on U.S. 70 on Aug. 11, 2003.
A clerk had told deputies that two men entered the store, browsed for a few minutes and asked to see a picture. When the clerk searched for it, she felt something in her back and saw a handgun. The robber demanded money and grabbed $60, and the suspects drove away.
The crimes and similar robberies of Asian and minority business owners in neighboring counties led to a summit meeting of law authorities from Goldsboro and four nearby cities and Wayne and Johnston counties in 2003 in Kinston. They swapped information, and within a few days, Bryant and a second man, Dennis Earl Washington, were arrested in Fayetteville.
Washington, 28, of Fayetteville, also has been charged with first-degree burglary, armed robbery, attempted armed robbery, first-degree rape and first-degree kidnapping. He has not been tried or sentenced for those charges.
A third man, Curtis Arlandea Washington, 20, of Fayetteville, was arrested in November. He was charged with armed robbery, first-degree burglary and second-degree kidnapping in connection with the Lockhaven Drive case. He faces more charges in the other crimes. His trial has not been held.