Waco gang members sentenced to prison for various crimes, eligible for parole in 7 1/2 years after plea deal

Omarion Haynes (left) and Damondre Maurice Williams (right)
Omarion Haynes (left) and Damondre Maurice Williams (right)(KWTX GRAPHIC)
Published: Jul. 2, 2024 at 4:10 PM CDT

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - Two men identified by police as Waco gang members were sentenced to 30 years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to dealing drugs and other crimes.

Judge Thomas West of Waco’s 19th State District Court sentenced Omarion Haynes, 21, and Damondre Maurice Williams, 24, after approving their plea agreements with the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office.

Haynes pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, tampering with physical evidence and burglary of a habitation, which resulted in concurrent sentences of 30 years, 10 years and 20 years, respectively. Haynes also pleaded guilty to unlawfully carrying a weapon and was sentenced to a year in jail.

Williams pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of cocaine with intent to deliver and was sentenced to two concurrent 30-year prison terms.

Both men must serve at least 7 ½ years in prison before they can seek parole.

Williams and Haynes were arrested in 2021 as co-defendants to Derwin Dewayne Bell, another gang member who was sentenced to 100 years in prison in March after a 19th State District Court jury convicted him on three counts of dealing methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine.

Derwin Dewayne Bell
Derwin Dewayne Bell(PHOTO: Tommy Witherspoon for KWTX)

Bell, 25, also was convicted by another McLennan County jury earlier in March in a downtown Waco shooting in which two people were injured. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison on those assault convictions.

The jury in the drug delivery cases recommended that West sentence Bell to 70, 60 and 70 years, respectively, after finding him guilty of possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine.

West “stacked” the jury’s 70-year term from Count 1 onto the 30-year sentence from his trial earlier in March and ordered Bell to serve the two sentences consecutively for a total of 100 years.

Bell, who was on parole after a 2018 conviction for possession of cocaine with intent to deliver, will serve the other two sentences concurrently and must earn credit for serving at least 45 years before he is eligible for parole.

Waco police arrested Bell, Haynes and Williams on drug charges in June 2021, while coming to arrest Bell for firing shots that injured two people during an altercation after a basketball game outside a downtown recreation center two days earlier.

Waco police spotted Bell coming out of what investigators said was a drug “stash house” in North Waco and arrested him getting into a car with a backpack and $1,700 in his pocket.

Officers served a search warrant at the stash house and found a variety of drugs, $6,200 in cash and three pistols and an AR-15-style rifle inside the house, according to reports.