Federal prosecutors announced that the mastermind behind a string of armed robberies in the Houston area, along with his former classmates, will serve nearly two decades in prison.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, Danial Starr, 21, pleaded guilty to two charges of helping and abetting robbery and two counts of aiding and abetting the brandishing of a firearm.
Prosecutors say Starr and three other men (his former high school buddies) committed a series of gunpoint robberies in January 2024. On January 27, the gang targeted three Houston tobacco shops and a booze store. According to investigators, his former classmates/accomplices distracted personnel by impersonating customers and acting as lookouts while Starr robbed them at gunpoint.
Two days later, Starr returned to the same location, the Spring Tobacco Shop on Veterans Memorial Drive, and threatened an employee at gunpoint before stealing cash and tobacco items.
The US Attorney’s Office revealed that two of the three accomplices had already received prison sentences. Calvin Deshazo, 19, pleaded guilty in July and was sentenced to 112 months, while Patrick Norman, 20, was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to 33 months.
The court acknowledged Starr’s terrible beginnings as an orphan in the foster care system but focused on the robbery victims’ long-term trauma.
“Hard-working, law-abiding people should be able to go about their day without having their lives threatened in armed robberies,” U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei said in a statement. “This sentence was richly deserved. A difficult childhood is not an excuse for committing a crime.”
This Thursday, a judge sentenced the 21-year-old to 238 months in prison, which is a little less than 20 years. His sentence includes 70 months for robberies and 168 months for firearms crimes, which must be served consecutively.
He was also ordered to pay $1,960 in reparations to the victims and serve three years of supervised release after his jail sentence is completed.
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