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HOUSTON – A 24-year-old Houston man has been ordered to federal prison following his convictions on robbery, brandishing and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Lowery.

Dametric Marquise Hunter pleaded guilty Aug. 31.

Today, U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore ordered him to serve a total of 234 months in federal prison. The sentence will be immediately followed by five years of supervised release.

Co-defendant Joshua Dawayne Prater, 23, Houston, pleaded guilty to one count each of robbery and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. He received a total sentence of 132 months Nov. 15.

In January and February of 2019, Hunter, Prater and others committed a series of commercial armed robberies, including several that took place at Walgreens stores.

On Feb. 12, 2019, a joint task force operation resulted in the surveillance and arrest of Hunter and Prater as they fled a robbery at a Walgreens on Westheimer Parkway in Fort Bend County. A shoot-out ensured and two others believed to be involved in the robbery were killed.

The investigation led to the discovery that Hunter and Prater also committed to multiple robberies in 2019.

Both men have been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

The FBI and Texas Department of Public Safety conducted the investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Michael Lewis and Matthew Roy Peneguy are prosecuting the case.