Greensboro Reporter

Two residents of Anson County have been sentenced following their guilty pleas to charges of Hobbs Act robberies and firearms offenses. The announcement was made by Sandra J. Hairston, United States Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina.

In August 2024, Brandon Drelle Wall, aged 35 from Wadesboro, North Carolina, and William Chavis Dunlap Jr., aged 29 from Morven, North Carolina, admitted to robbing a sweepstakes business in Winston-Salem in June 2022 and another in Liberty in August 2022. Both also pleaded guilty to brandishing a firearm during these crimes.

Wall received his sentence on October 30, 2024. He was given consecutive prison terms of 138 months and 84 months followed by five years of supervised release. Dunlap was sentenced recently to consecutive terms of 110 months and 84 months imprisonment with an additional five years of supervised release.

The sentencing hearings were conducted in Greensboro, North Carolina before United States District Judge William L. Osteen Jr. Besides imprisonment, Wall and Dunlap were ordered to pay restitution and forfeited their interests in seven firearms along with multiple magazines and rounds of ammunition.

Court documents revealed that Wall and Dunlap used masks and guns to threaten employees while accessing business safes. During the Liberty robbery, they forced patrons onto the floor at gunpoint. In Winston-Salem, they stole a phone, wallet, $1,400 cash, and two guns; $8,650 was taken during the Liberty incident. Wall confessed post-arrest to an additional robbery at a gas station in Richmond County while Dunlap admitted to robbing a discount store in Anson County.

This case is linked with Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which aims to reduce violent crime through community trust-building initiatives and strategic enforcement priorities. The Department launched this strategy on May 26, 2021.

The investigation involved several law enforcement agencies including the Liberty Police Department, Winston-Salem Police Department, Anson County Sheriff's Office among others. Special Assistant United States Attorney Mary Ann Courtney prosecuted the case.