A Dallas man was sentenced to 10 years in prison on criminal charges stemming from a string of burglaries and a police chase that ended in a deadly car crash in 2022.
Joey Jarvis, 18, accepted the plea deal put before him by prosecutors of the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office in which he will plead guilty to one count of murder and two counts of engaging in organized criminal activity.
He will serve 10 years concurrently for each of these third-degree felony charges, according to Fox 4 KDFW.
Jarvis was identified as the driver of a white Chevrolet Tahoe that was being pursued by Garland police officers on November 20, 2022. Police were following the vehicle as it had been connected to a string of burglaries across North Texas, including in Mesquite, Arlington, Pantego, Grand Prairie, Hutchins, Dallas, Duncanville, and Garland, Fox 4 reported.
One of the burglaries in which Jarvis was a person of interest took place at a Grand Prairie tattoo shop on November 7. Though the burglars were only inside for about three minutes, they stole $30,000 worth of equipment, the shop’s owners told Fox 4 at the time.
Kati Ambriz’s father had just opened the Good Pain Artworks Tattoo & Piercing Shop the month before, she said, and the business had been his dream.
The high-speed chase on November 20 ended in Dallas in the 12200 block of Greenville Avenue when Jarvis allegedly lost control of the SUV. It flipped, killing one of the five occupants, a 16-year-old male. After the crash, the police allegedly found five firearms in the vehicle.
The crash happened in Council Member Kathy Stewart’s District 10.
Last year, more than 7,000 burglaries were reported in Dallas. The city continues to be plagued by burglaries, with 4,992 reported in the first ten months of this year, according to the Dallas Police Department’s crime analytics dashboard.
Meanwhile, DPD has been hampered in its efforts to fight crime as it is chronically understaffed. The City employs less than 3,200 armed officers, even though an analysis indicated a need for about 4,000 officers.
Downtown Dallas logs significantly more crimes than neighboring downtown Fort Worth, which is reportedly patrolled by dedicated police units and private security guards.