Haltom’s Jeweler Robber Sentenced to 262 Months in Federal Prison

FORT WORTH — Willie Thompson, Jr., 53, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was sentenced this week by U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor to serve a total of 262 months in federal prison, following his guilty plea in August 2017 to his role in the conspiracy to rob Haltom’s Jewelers in Grapevine, announced U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox of the Northern District of Texas.

Thompson pleaded guilty to one count of interference with commerce by robbery and one count of using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to, and possessing and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of, a crime of violence. He has been in custody since April 2017 on a related federal complaint.

According to plea documents filed in the case, on October 3, 2014, Thompson, along with co-defendants Garland Gilmore Lenoir III, Melvin Lewis Andrews, Tony Eugene Gabriel and Kim Yvette Brown, traveled to Haltom’s Jewelers in a stolen vehicle. Andrews, Lenoir, Thompson and Gabriel, entered the store wearing masks and carrying handguns and hammers. Thompson held a store employee in a back room at gunpoint while Andrews, Lenoir, and Gabriel smashed the display cases with hammers and stole merchandise, to include jewelry and watches.

The FBI and Grapevine Police Department investigated the case.  Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Cole was in charge of the prosecution.

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