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Bucks County Man Who Posted Bail Three Times Sentenced In Drug, Gun Cases: DA

A 33-year-old Bucks County man was sentenced Tuesday, March 15, to 12 to 24 years in state prison for three arrests involving gun and drug offenses, two of which happened while he was out on bail, authorities said.

Austin V. Carter

Austin V. Carter

Photo Credit: Bucks County District Attorney's Office

Austin V. Carter, of Northampton Township, posted bail in each of the three cases, before ultimately being captured in Atlantic City, NJ, and extradited to Bucks County on March 13, 2021, authorities said. His bail was revoked shortly after.

Carter pleaded guilty in January to two counts of prohibited possession of a firearm and one count each of receiving stolen property and possession of a controlled substance for arrests that happened on Jan. 27, 2021, and Feb. 3, 2021, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said.

In December, Carter was found guilty of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance during a bench trial.

Carter was initially arrested in November 2019, after county detectives learned that he delivered 150 bags of fentanyl to another person for $450, they said.

He was sent to the Bucks County Correctional Facility on 10 percent of $50,000 bail and posted bail on Sept. 8, 2020.

A few months later while awaiting trial on the drug case, Carter was arrested on Jan. 27, 2021, authorities said.

Northampton Township police officers responding to a report of a suspicious person that day stopped a truck hauling a stolen motorcycle, they said. Carter was a passenger in the truck, which had drugs on the front dashboard as well as a 9-mm "ghost gun" wrapped in a ski mask on the passenger seat., police said.

Carter was not allowed to possess a firearm as a convicted felon.

He was sent to BCCF on 10 percent of $25,000 bail, which he posted two days later.

Five days after posting bail, on Feb. 3, 2021, Carter was arrested on another firearms offense, authorities said.

That morning, Northampton Township police officers were called to a report of an unwanted person at a home on Tinari Drive and found Carter in a parked car in the driveway, they said.

A resident of the home reportedly told police that Carter had sent threatening text messages to her boyfriend, including a photo showing an AR-15 platform rifle. 

Realizing the picture had recently been sent, Northampton Township police searched Carter’s vehicle and saw the AR-15 platform rifle, facing barrel down on the driver’s floorboard, they said.

Carter later admitted in an interview that he took the gun from his dad’s home, the DA's office said.

Carter was sent to the county jail on 10 percent of $50,000 bail. Following this arrest, the Bucks County DA's office filed a motion to have his bail revoked, but before the bail revocation hearing could be scheduled, Carter posted bail and fled, they said.

That's when he was captured in Atlantic City, NJ. 

Deputy District Attorney Megan K. Stricker prosecuted all three cases.

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