HOUSTON – Federal prosecutors announced the mastermind behind a string of armed robberies in the Houston area, along with his former classmates, will spend nearly two decades locked up.
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According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, Danial Starr, 21, pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding and abetting robbery and two counts of aiding and abetting the brandishing of a firearm.
Prosecutors said Starr and three other men (his former high school classmates) carried out a series of gunpoint robberies in January 2024. On Jan. 27, the crew hit three Houston-area smoke shops and a liquor store. Investigators said his former classmates/accomplices distracted employees by posing as customers and being lookouts, while Starr robbed them at gunpoint.
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Two days later, Starr returned to one of the same locations, the Spring Smoke Shop on Veterans Memorial Drive, and again threatened an employee at gunpoint while stealing cash and smoke products.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed that two of the three accomplices have already been given prison sentences. Back in July, Calvin Deshazo, 19, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 112 months, while Patrick Norman, 20, was convicted by a jury and sentenced to 33 months.
The court noted Starr’s difficult upbringing as an orphan in the foster care system but emphasized the long-lasting trauma suffered by the robbery victims.
“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.”
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A judge sentenced the 21-year-old this week to a total of 238 months in prison — just under 20 years. His sentence includes 70 months for the robberies and 168 months for the firearms charges, which must run consecutively.
He was also ordered to pay $1,960 in restitution to the victims and will serve three years of supervised release once his prison term is complete.