Former UNT QB Jailed After Goldilocks-esque Crime Spree

Dallas needs its own Batman, apparently

The leader of a crime ring that perpetrated peculiar robberies was sentenced Monday to 65 years in prison.

Former UNT quarterback Damon West's modus operandi sounds a lot like that of a fabled curly-haired blonde child. West would actually stay in the homes of out-of-town victims for hours or days, rummaging through their belongings, eating their food and possibly staying in their beds.

West's promising future went awry when he recruited at least 11 people to join his organized crime gang.

The crew got away with 51 burglaries in the same area of Uptown Dallas before they were caught.

Jurors had some sympathy for his alleged psychiatric and emotional issues that he said contributed to his behavior. West also said a methamphetamine addiction led him to burglary to get more money to feed his addiction.

"There was a lot of testimony that the defendant had psychiatric or emotional issues that led him to start taking meth, and the profits of the burglaries could feed this addiction," said juror Clare Odom. "However, it is still hard to imagine how anyone cold-bloodedly comes up with such an organized and deliberate scheme to repeatedly burglarize people."

Police caught one of his co-defendants first, arresting him on an unrelated auto charge and discovering stolen items in his apartment that linked back to the "Uptown burglaries," and paperwork in the car that linked back to a "safehouse" that was kept to house stolen goods, which they eventually traced back to West. Also, elevator security cameras caught video footage of West and his co-defendant.

Items stolen included electronics, clothes, underwear, weapons, etc., as well as collectibles and items that were passed down in the victims' families that were really invaluable because of the history and sentiment attached to them.

Items recovered by police were returned to the victims.

Holly LaFon has written and worked for various local publications including D Magazine and Examiner.

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