A suspect in a string of armed robberies in 2018 that ended in a shootout with law enforcement in San Jacinto County is free after receiving 10 years deferred adjudication from 258th State District Judge Travis Kitchens on Wednesday, March 8. Tevinos Dontez Cook, 31, pleaded guilty to three counts of armed robbery prior to the sentencing from Judge Kitchens.
Cook, 31, originally from Louisiana but living in Cleveland at the time of the crime spree, was one of five men who robbed at gunpoint three Dollar General stores in San Jacinto County – the first in Coldspring, the second in Shepherd and the last on FM 2025 in the Cleveland area on Nov. 3, 2018.
Following the first two armed robberies, and suspecting that the Cleveland store would be targeted next, San Jacinto Sheriff’s deputies and investigators staked out the store and alerted employees inside that they were there to protect them in the event the store was robbed.
Four days after the stakeout began, the suspects – Tevinos Cook, his brothers, Samuel Andre Cook and James Lewis Cook, Deidrick Shaeron Davison, and Quanterious Deandre Howard – reportedly went to the Cleveland Dollar General store, with three of the suspects entering the store while two others remained in vehicles outside, law enforcement reports state.
Inside the store, the suspects demanded cash from employees and then fled after receiving an undisclosed amount. Tevinos Cook was shot twice while being apprehended, according to the reports.
Tevinos Cook is not the first of the five suspects to receive deferred adjudication for the three armed robberies from Judge Kitchens. Quanterious Howard was given a deferred sentence of six years. Howard has since reoffended and is in the Polunsky Unit in Livingston on unrelated charges in Rockwall County for Manufacture or Delivery of a Controlled Substance and Evading Arrest or Detention. A motion to adjudicate Howard for the San Jacinto County charges is pending.
Deidrick Davison received the harshest punishment of all the defendants. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for each of the armed robbery charges; however, he is being allowed to serve the sentences concurrently instead of consecutively. Consecutive sentences would have given him the longest prison sentence. Concurrent sentencing allows him to serve all three sentences at once.
Samuel Andre Cook’s case is still pending in Judge Kitchen’s court. The District Attorney’s Office has recommended 10 years for each of the three charges for Samuel Cook. The case has been set for trial three times but delayed due to requests from Cook’s attorneys, according to District Attorney Todd Dillon.
The fifth suspect, James Lewis Cook, of Cleveland, is running from law enforcement and has yet to be apprehended. He has an indictment and arrest warrant pending in San Jacinto County.
Bluebonnet News has contacted Judge Kitchen’s office in Livingston for comment. If he responds, this article will be updated.
WTF is this assclown judge think he’s doing ?
He is a liberal asshat
Travis Kitchens u are gutless. I hope this idiot comes to your house and commits his next crime against you and your family. He can’t hurt innocent people when he is in jail. You are a disgrace to the judicial system.
Unbelievable….
Here’s a novel idea: let’s charge the people who voted him back into office as accessories.
I do not understand how Judges get away with this. There has to be a system in place to oversee this type of justice.
REALLY JUDGE …..GUESS WHO THE HELL IS NOT VOTING FOR YOU NEXT TIME ME AND MOST ANYONE I KNOW THAT ,,,,DID HELP VOTE YOU IN WITH OUR VOTES ,,,,,,BYE
These people WILL RE OFFEND. While on Def. Adjudication, if they are ADJUDICATED Guilty, they are subject to and likely will be sentenced to the FULL TERM of incarceration in TDCJ. So, for even a Misdemeanor A or B offense, they can go to PRISON for quite a bit longer than a Jury might sentence them. This is a lousy way to gain a conviction, but Kitchens can only approve or reject the plea deal that the District Attorney offers and that the defendant accepts.
You can’t even get deferred adjudication for a DWI and this guy is out for this?