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Ingram
Jefferson County Criminal District Attorney Bob Wortham announced that Desmond Ingram Jr., of Port Arthur, was sentenced to 30 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Judge Raquel West’s 252nd Criminal District Court May 4.
On Oct. 1, 2021, Desmond Ingram and Ricardo Guient entered the Church’s Chicken restaurant on Jefferson Drive in Port Arthur with a firearm and began to rob the store.
Employees were forced into the back of the business while the men removed cash from the safe.
In the course of this armed robbery, a citizen and concealed handgun license holder in the drive-thru observed what was taking place, according to police. He retrieved his personal weapon and fired at the two robbers through the window. Both men were struck. Guient died at a local hospital shortly after.
Port Arthur police responded shortly after the robbery to a report of a gunshot victim at a local apartment complex. Ingram was located wearing clothes that matched the robbery suspect’s and had a gunshot wound to his abdomen.
Prosecutor Luke Nichols stated, “This violent robbery could have ended much worse.
“Ingram and his accomplice threatened and terrorized the store employees and we are all grateful none of them were injured. The citizens who intervened likely saved their lives that night. A quick and thorough response by PAPD took another violent offender off the streets of Port Arthur.”
“Following a guilty plea to the Aggravated Robbery charge, Desmond Ingram Jr. was sentenced to 30 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice,” reported the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office. “Ingram has several prior felony convictions, and was out on supervised release at the time of the offense for a federal firearms violation.”