Larry Gibbs convicted for Family Dollar store robbery
Written by Post Public Information Representative, May 28, 2016, Comments Off
Courtesy Yanira Deleon,
(Laredo, Texas)-The Office of the District Attorney reports a guilty verdict for Larry Donell Gibbs in connection with the robbery of a local business that occurred last year.
On May 9, 2015, the Laredo Police Department Communications Division received a 911 call from the assistant manager at the Family Dollar located on the 300 block of Clark street stating that a robbery had occurred. Larry Donell Gibbs entered the store around 1 p.m.<x-apple-data-detectors://5> and hid in the warehouse area inside a storage room located at the back of the store. When the assistant manager and another employee were closing the store, Gibbs came out of the storage room and walked towards them with what looked like a gun in his hand. With threats and physical violence, striking one of them in the head, he forced them to open the register and the safe. After obtaining an excess of $4,000, Gibbs forced the two women into a bathroom and barricaded the door. After an exhaustive investigation, Gibbs was arrested by the Laredo Police Department a couple of days later.
The trial which took place before the 49th District Court Judge Joe Lopez was heard by a jury over the course of five days. After one hour of deliberation, the jury rendered their verdict finding Larry Donell Gibbs guilty of two counts of robbery. During the punishment phase of the trial, the State showed that Gibbs had previously been convicted of a similar robbery in Tennessee. Evidence was also presented showing that a few days before the Family Dollar robbery, he had robbed a Whataburger restaurant located on Guadalupe and Bartlett. After a short deliberation, the jury returned with a sentence of 47 years and assessed a $10,000 fine for each count.
Assistant District Attorneys Philip Del Rio and Juan Ramon Flores prosecuted the case for the State
