Barnardsville man gets 10 to 13 years for Weaverville pharmacy robbery
A Barnardsville man got 10 to 13 years after a Weaverville CVS robbery in which witnesses said he waved a six-inch knife and demanded narcotics.
A Barnardsville man will spend more than a decade in prison after a Weaverville pharmacy robbery that prosecutors said turned on a knife, a demand for narcotics and a criminal history that triggered habitual felon sentencing. The case centered on a CVS Pharmacy on Monticello Road, where workers were confronted in the middle of a busy evening.
John Wesley Burleson, 37, was sentenced June 5 to 10 to 13 years in the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction after convictions for trafficking in opium and heroin, robbery with a dangerous weapon and habitual felon status. Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams said the punishment reflected both the robbery itself and Burleson’s prior record.
Weaverville police were called to the CVS at 121 Monticello Road at about 5:48 p.m. on Feb. 26, 2025, after an armed robbery-in-progress report. Witnesses told investigators that Burleson brandished a six-inch hunting knife and demanded narcotics before fleeing the store, according to the reporting cited by prosecutors.
That sequence is what made the case so serious. Under North Carolina law, a person with three felony convictions can be charged as an habitual felon, and robbery with a dangerous weapon is classified as a Class D felony. Burleson’s record included burglary, forgery and uttering forged instruments, and possession of counterfeit instruments, all of which raised the stakes at sentencing.
The prison term also shows how tightly drug crime and violent crime can overlap in Buncombe County. A pharmacy target adds another layer, because CVS stores serve as routine access points for medicine in towns like Weaverville, just north of Asheville, where customers and employees expect a quick retail stop rather than a weapon threat tied to narcotics.
For prosecutors, the sentence marked a conclusion to a case that began as a robbery call and ended with a repeat offender receiving a lengthy prison term. In a county where officials regularly confront the mix of drug trafficking, property crime and violent threats, the judgment underscored that a pharmacy robbery with a knife can carry consequences far beyond a single theft.
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