Robbers Sentenced For Beating, Taping Elderly Woman

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) -- One man was sentenced to life and another to 30 years in prison for beating and duct-taping a 94-year-old woman during a home invasion robbery last year in Benbrook.

Erik White, 23, and Dvonte Chadwick, 18, both pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery of an elderly person charges in June. A third defendant, James Burns, pleaded guilty in June and was sentenced to 25 years.

Prosecutors showed that on June 11 of last year, the three men attacked an elderly woman while she was taking out her garbage. The masked men then dragged her back into her home, beat her when she resisted, and wrapped her legs with duct tape.

For the next half hour, the men ransacked the home, taking jewelry and dumping out drawers.

Officers responded to the home on a report of a suspicious vehicle nearby. The three suspects fled from the home.

White was detained after leading police on a foot chase through a wooded area. The other two suspects were captured later in the day.

White admitted to often targeting elderly people, specifically those with luxury vehicles with handicapped placards. He was shown to have also robbed a woman at gunpoint two days prior to the incident and was sentenced to the maximum charge of life in prison.

Chadwick, who had no criminal history but was disciplined 13 times while in custody awaiting trial, was sentenced to 30 years.

"Having survived World War II, the Great Depression, and cancer, this 94-year-old woman found herself at the mercy of three masked intruders," said Deputy Chief District Attorney Christy Jack. "They targeted our weakest and most vulnerable members of our community."

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