Man who pleaded guilty to Wichita hotel robberies was caught by police in Missouri

The man convicted of robbing two Wichita hotels was caught in Missouri after robbing a third hotel.

Darrell Eugene Black, 26, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Monday to two counts of commercial robbery, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said in a news release. In his plea, Black admitted to robbing the Extended Stay America at 9450 E. Corporate Hills on May 27, 2017, and robbing the Days Inn and Suites at 7321 E. Kellogg on May 29, 2017.

In both Wichita robberies, Black held clerks at gunpoint while demanding money. In the second robbery, he jumped over the counter to steal from the cash drawer.

Sentencing is scheduled for May 1, where Black faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each count. He had originally been indicted on additional charges of two counts of brandishing a firearm during a robbery and two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm following a felony conviction.

Black has already been sentenced to prison in a separate case in federal court in Missouri, where he admitted to a third hotel robbery.

Kansas court documents state that after the Wichita robberies, Black drove to Columbia, Missouri, where he robbed the Staybridge Inn and Suites at gunpoint on May 31, 2017. He was arrested later the same day in Jefferson City after attempting to flee.

Federal prosecutors in Missouri said that Black went into the hotel at around 1:50 a.m., pointed a 9mm handgun at a clerk, jumped over the counter and demanded money. Black took about $200 from a desk drawer and demanded money from the safe, threatening to shoot the clerk if she didn’t comply.

The clerk said the manager was the only one with a key to the safe, and Black then searched the front desk area for more things to steal, including the clerk’s cellphone and purse. He tried unsuccessfully to tie the clerk’s hands behind her back with a phone cord before ordering her to lie on the ground, then to face a wall and not move. The clerk waited for several minutes until after Black left before calling the police.

After a Jefferson City police officer spotted Black and he was arrested after a foot chase, police found the pistol, marijuana, ecstasy and ammunition in Black’s bag. As the officer handcuffed him, a woman ran up and grabbed Black’s bag and ran away. She was later caught, and the bag was recovered.

Black was sentenced to 318 months, or 26 and a half years, in prison after being convicted of robbery, brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, being a felon in possession of a firearm and possessing a stolen firearm.