Houston man gets 31 years in prison after 12 hour crime spree with assault rifle

HOUSTON - In 2021, a Houston man went on a crime spree for 12 hours before being taken into custody. This week, he was sentenced to prison.

Jose Luis Perez Jr., 22, pleaded guilty to four counts of interference with commerce by robbery and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. He is also alleged to have committed several robberies of people during the crime spree.

Perez was sentenced to a total of 31 years in prison immediately followed by five years of supervised release.

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"This young man has thrown most of his life away," said U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. "At 22 now, he will likely be an old man before his release from federal prison. Crime does not pay. Jose Luis Perez terrorized the Houston area for 12 long hours, robbing convenient stores and a gas station at gunpoint. Thanks to brave victims who relayed concise and expeditious information, law enforcement was able to stop his reign of terror before it became even worse."

According to court records, from March 2, 2021, at approximately 11:15 p.m. and until the following day before 1 p.m. there were numerous commercial aggravated robberies.

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For those 12 hours, authorities say Perez robbed several stores at gunpoint including a Circle K in Friendswood, Cindie’s Number One in Fantasy and Fun adult novelty shop in Webster, the same Circle K in Friendswood for a second time, and a Chevron gas station in Friendswood.

Perez would enter the stores with a rifle, point it at store clerks, and demand money from the registers, documents say. He would then leave in a dark color Chevrolet which clerks were able to give a description of to officials, along with a license plate number.

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Authorities say they located him driving the vehicle after he committed the Chevron robbery and a pursuit ensued. It soon ended and Perez got out of the Chevrolet with the assault rifle.

He was taken into custody without incident.

During his plea, officials say Perez admitted to robbing the businesses with the assault rifle.

He will remain in custody pending his transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.