U.S. Department
of Justice
United
States Attorney 1100
Commerce St., 3rd Fl. |
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Telephone (214) 659-8600 |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
DALLAS, TEXAS
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CONTACT: 214/659-8600 www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn |
APRIL 16, 2007
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DALLAS MAN SENTENCED TO MORE THAN 13 YEARS One Victim is Hurricane Katrina Evacuee from New Orleans
The defendants admitted that on the morning of January 18, 2006, Gandara, 19, Acosta, 18, and Flores, 19, went on an armed robbery spree in Dallas using a short-barreled (sawed-off) shotgun. They were arrested early that afternoon at the Gandara residence by Dallas Police Department officers shortly after they had attempted another armed robbery. According to documents filed in court and evidence presented at the defendants’ detention hearings, at about 7:25 a.m. that morning, a person was passing out flyers at an apartment complex in Dallas when he was approached by Acosta and Flores, who got out of a dark-colored Lincoln that had stopped. Flores asked the victim if he had anything of value at which point Acosta pulled out a sawed-off shotgun. The victim said he didn’t carry money while at work, at which point Acosta put the weapon to his head. Flores took the victim’s cell phone and car keys. Then Gandara, who was driving the Lincoln, pulled up and shouted to Flores and Acosta to “get out of here.” Flores and Acosta entered the Lincoln and the three men sped away. The victim reported the incident to the Dallas Police Department. At approximately 8:00 a.m. that morning, the dark colored Lincoln, driven by Gandara, stopped behind a work van driven by a painter who had stopped to pick up day workers at a location in Dallas. The van was equipped and recognizable as one used in the painting business. Acosta, Flores and Gandara, who had a sawed-off shotgun, were riding in the Lincoln looking for yet another robbery target. They spotted the van and decided to steal it from the driver at gunpoint. Acosta and Flores exited the Lincoln and confronted the victim with the sawed-off shotgun. The victim surrendered the vehicle as the defendants demanded because he feared that he would be shot and killed if he refused. The three defendants then fled the scene in the Lincoln and in the painter’s van. ### |