GREENSBORO — A Richmond County man convicted of throwing a Molotov cocktail through the window of an occupied Scotland County home will spend the next five years in a federal prison.
Federal prosecutors on Friday announced the sentencing of AD McRae IV, formerly of Rockingham, to 60 months behind bars.
McRae, 30, pleaded guilty on Dec. 4, 2019, to one count of malicious use of explosive materials.
According to the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina, court documents show that two people were inside a Laurinburg home on March 1, 2017 when a lit Molotov cocktail came crashing though a bedroom window.
The bottle failed to break after landing on a pile of clothes and one of the residents was able to extinguish the wick.
McRae had reportedly been seen in the area 30-45 minutes before the incident.
An investigation of the scene by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, which had been called in to assist the Laurinburg Police Department, found a second bottle under the home.
Agents were able to lift McRae’s prints from the second bottle.
Under federal law, Molotov cocktails are classified as improvised incendiary bombs, which are destructive devices prohibited under federal law, according to a press release.
Warrants were issued Aug. 30, 2018, but McRae wasn’t arrested until the following year at Hamlet City Lake.
According to the Hamlet Police Department, then-City Manager Jonathan Blanton, who was overseeing renovations at the lake, called in to report a man with an open container of alcohol, which is prohibited at the park.
Sgt. Greg Stone, Cpl. Charles Talley and Detective Corey Wilson responded and began questioning McRae, who, at the time, had a Laurel Hill address.
McRae gave officers the false name “Alfonso McRae” and told them his date of birth was a year later than what it is, according to a warrant.
While McRae was being questioned, an off-duty deputy with the Scotland County Sheriff’s Office, Lt. Alford, drove by and recognized McRae, according to the HPD. Alford told the officers McRae’s name and that there were outstanding warrants for his arrest for the March 1 incident.
Police in Laurinburg had charged McRae with two counts of attempted first-degree murder, possession of a weapon of mass destruction, and damage of an occupied property with an explosive; and Hamlet Police charged him with resisting a public officer.
Without access to federal court records, the RO is unsure when McRae was indicted on the federal charge.
It appears state charges were dropped.
Judge Stephanie D. Thacker, a judge from the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, sitting by designation, on Wednesday imposed a 5-year prison term, to be followed by a 3-year period of supervised release.
McRae was convicted in 2006 of communicating threats and disorderly conduct, according to records with the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction. His probation was revoked the following year when he was convicted of another count of communicating threats. He spent less than two months behind bars, records show.
He was also convicted in 2008 of misdemeanor larceny and was placed on probation.
