Skip to main content
Press Release

Local Man Gets Lengthy Sentence for Capital One Bank Robbery

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Texas

HOUSTON – A 24 year-old Houston man has been ordered to federal prison following his conviction in the armed robbery of a Capital One Bank and for using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez. A Houston federal jury convicted Trent Davis on Jan. 25, 2017, following two days of trial and approximately an hour of deliberation.

 

Today, U.S. District Judge David Hittner handed Davis a sentence of 20 years for the bank robbery plus an additional seven consecutive years for the firearms charge as well as another two consecutive years for violating conditions of supervised release for a previous bank robbery conviction. Following his 29-year-prison sentence, Davis will also serve five years of supervised release. In handing down the sentence, Judge Hittner noted that the sentence was a reflection of the seriousness of the offense, the violence and physical threat to the victims, that Davis was a repeat bank robber and is an absolute menace to the community.

 

On April 26, 2016, Davis and co-defendant Derrick Muhammad, 29, of Houston, robbed the Capital One Bank located at 1514 West Sam Houston South in Houston. The men entered the facility, at which time Davis jumped the counter, pointed a pink gun at the teller and demanded he open the vault. Upon fleeing the bank, two dye packs exploded within the bag holding the money which was then thrown from the car. A witness in a nearby building saw the two masked men exiting the bank and photographed the vehicle as the dye pack exploded.

 

Davis used his sister’s car during the robbery. During trial, an FBI chemist testified that a substance found in that vehicle had chemicals found only in dye packs.

 

The lead teller, on the date of the robbery, told the jury how he was forced to empty the vault at gunpoint. He testified that the robbers were wearing hoodies and that one of them used a pink gun in the robbery.

 

Davis was apprehended approximately a month after the robbery in possession of a pink gun that had been painted black.

 

Two witnesses testified about jail house conversations they had with Davis and claimed Davis confessed to the crime, that he used his sister’s car and about the pink gun being painted. The jury also heard from Muhammad who testified about the details of the robbery. He previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced May 26, 2017, to 108 months in prison.

 

Davis will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

 

The FBI Violent Crime Task Force conducted the investigation, which included agents and officers of the FBI, Harris County Sheriff’s Office and Houston Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Celia Moyer and Jill Stotts prosecuted the case.

Updated June 28, 2017

Topic
Violent Crime