A Houston man was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for a carjacking in which the victim was pistol-whipped.
Dominique Luis-Donte Quinones-Amos, 28, pleaded guilty Feb. 12, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Alamdar S. Hamdani announced in a news release Monday.
U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen also sentenced Quinones-Amos to three years of supervised release after he completes his prison sentence.
The court heard during the sentencing hearing about Quinones-Amos’ previous arrests in the Los Angeles area for burglary and grand theft auto. The judge also noted that one of Quinones-Amos’ previous convictions included felony assault of a family member impeding breathing or circulation in which the victim lost consciousness.
“Quinones-Amos engaged in a series of offenses that put the people of this district in danger in a variety of ways — a carjacking, brandishing a gun, using fully-automatic conversion devices and even financial crimes,” Hamdani said. “This office will not allow such dangers to go unanswered, and today’s sentence will keep the community safe for several years to come from this one-man wrecking crew.”
Because he already was a convicted felon, Quinones-Amos is prohibited by federal law from possessing a firearm or ammunition. Despite this, law enforcement said they found social media postings in which he seemed to be selling two firearms with extended magazines and firing a weapon with a machine gun conversion device, which makes a semiautomatic handgun operate as a fully automatic handgun.
When he was arrested, law enforcement also found he had another firearm, authorities said.
During the investigation, law enforcement linked Quinones-Amos to the violent carjacking that happened Oct. 4, 2021. Authorities say that in the crime, two men were returning to an apartment on Dunlap Street in a 2013 Dodge Avenger. Once they got out of the car in a parking lot, Quinones-Amos approached them and hit one in the face. That man fled.
Authorities say Quinones-Amos then pointed a firearm at the driver and hit him several times in the face with the gun. While the victim was motionless on the ground, Quinones-Amos got into the vehicle and drove off.
Law enforcement later found the car and linked it to Quinones-Amos through DNA testing.
Investigators said they also found Quinones-Amos was selling fraudulent credit cards and money orders in the names of other people.
He will remain in custody as he awaits transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility.
The Houston Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Laurence Goldman prosecuted.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
