Kaylen Butcher Sentenced to 61 Months in Prison for Armed Robbery

GREENEVILLE, TN—Kaylen Butcher, 19, of Greeneville, Tennessee, was sentenced on January 10, 2013, to serve a total of 61 months in prison by the Honorable Leon Jordan, Senior U.S. District Judge. Upon his release from prison, he will serve five years of supervised release. Butcher was further ordered to pay restitution to the victim of her crime.

Butcher pleaded guilty in September 2012 to the June 2012 robbery by force of the Stop and Go Market in Chuckey. Butcher also pleaded guilty to carrying a firearm in the commission of the robbery. Federal law mandates a five year minimum mandatory sentence for carrying a firearm in the commission of a violent offense. In determining her sentence, the court considered Butcher’s cooperation against Larry Morgan, who was convicted at trial in October 2012, of the armed robberies of the Stop and Go Market and Greeneville Federal Bank. Butcher testified against Morgan at trial.

Law enforcement agencies participating in the joint investigation included the Greeneville Police Department; Greene County Sheriff’s Department; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; Johnson City Police Department; Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab; and the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Department dive team. Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Gregory Bowman represented the United States.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a comprehensive national strategy that creates local partnerships with law enforcement agencies to effectively enforce existing gun laws. It provides more options to prosecutors, allowing them to utilize local, state, and federal laws to ensure that criminals who commit gun crime face tough sentences. PSN gives each federal district the flexibility it needs to focus on individual challenges that a specific community faces.