HOUSTON – A 29-year-old Houston man has been sentenced to half a century in prison for robbing an armored truck.
On Wednesday, a Montgomery County jury sentenced Treveon Shelldrick Poole to 50 years in prison after finding him guilty of the first-degree felony offense of aggravated robbery.
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Poole will have to serve at least one-half of his sentence, or 25 years, before becoming eligible for parole.
According to prosecutors, Poole, of Houston, was on deferred adjudication probation for a bank robbery he committed in League City, Texas at the time he robbed an armored truck driver in Willis, Texas.
Jurors heard evidence that Poole and two co-defendants conspired to follow armored trucks out of Houston with the intent to commit an aggravated robbery of the courier. On Nov.19, 2019, Poole and one of his co-defendants, Javahnte Parker, jumped out of a black vehicle at the Chase Bank in Willis, threatened the armed guard with a firearm, and demanded that he back up from the money. Fearing for his life, the armed guard fired his weapon six times at the robbers, striking and killing Parker. Poole fled the scene on foot and was picked up by the third co-defendant a short distance away.
A Texas Ranger was able to use cell phone records and law enforcement databases to develop Poole as a suspect. The District Attorney’s Office presented DNA evidence and surveillance video that confirmed that Poole was the gunman,
The trial lasted three days and after two hours of deliberation, the jury returned a guilty verdict.
During the punishment phase of the trial, prosecutors presented testimony from a League City Police Department detective who testified about his investigation of the robbery of an IBC Bank on Sept. 29, 2017, which resulted in the arrest of Poole for robbery, a second-degree felony. The detective provided the handwritten letter demanding money and threatening violence, which was collected as evidence in the case so that jurors could consider that prior offense in determining a just sentence for Poole.
Despite his previous arrest for robbery, Poole remained probation eligible, making his punishment range from probation to life. After deliberating for an hour, the jury sentenced Poole to 50 years in the Texas Department of Corrections.
“This case involved the combined efforts of several agencies in Montgomery County, including the Texas Rangers, Willis Police Department, Montgomery County Constable Precinct One, and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office,” Assistant District Attorney Adam McLane said. “We are proud to work with some of the best that Texas law enforcement has to offer, and we are privileged to present cases to Montgomery County jurors.”
“This defendant decided to make robbery his daytime job, and then he decided to come to Montgomery County to practice his trade. Now he can sit in prison for decades considering just how wrong both of those decisions were,” District Attorney Brett Ligon added.