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A gun seized from Deandre Martece Williams. (Govt. photo)
Deandre Martece Williams of Detroit, who federal authorities say committed a series of armed robberies and at times raped or shot and wounded some victims, was sentenced Thursday to 27 years and 3 months in prison.
Detroit U.S. District Court Judge Mark A. Goldsmith said at sentencing that Williams’s “utter disregard for human dignity is breathtaking in the worst sense of the word,” calling his conduct “nightmarish.”
Authorities said that during a three-month stretch in 2023, Williams, now 32, victimized 15 people in eight separate incidents, seriously wounding four and raping three at gunpoint.
“Williams targeted vulnerable people: transgender sex workers, their customers, and others he believed were either unlikely to cooperate with, or be taken seriously by, law enforcement,” according to a government sentencing memorandum. “The victims did come forward and cooperate with law enforcement. And the evidence he left behind eventually led federal agents to his front door.”
“Many of his victims were transgender persons or men seeking to pay for sex with a transgender person,” the memorandum said. “Williams did not necessarily target his victims out of any particular animus toward their sexuality or lifestyle. He targeted them because he believed they were unlikely to speak to or cooperate with law enforcement, given their circumstances.”
“Williams knew where transgender commercial sex workers primarily worked and met their customers… The kidnapping and rapes Williams committed during this spree resembled the robberies. These victims were either transgender persons and/or involved in commercial sex work.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that during the investigation, Detroit Police collected fired cartridge casings from the scenes of multiple shootings. With the help of the ATF and the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), they identified a pattern of targeting sex workers and their customers.
ATF and Detroit Police methodically pieced together other evidence from the crime scenes and identified Williams as a suspect, authorities said. On October 20, 2023, ATF agents executed a federal search warrant at Williams’s house in Detroit, arrested him, and found the gun used in the robberies.
Williams commonly walked up to victims in parked cars in neighborhoods, placed his handgun through an open window or door, and robbed them. After the robberies, he shot at several victims as they tried to flee, hitting several. He also raped two victims during the robberies.
In one instance, the investigation linked Williams to the rape and kidnapping of an adult in July 2023.
In that case, Williams met a transgender person on the dating app Grindr and arranged to meet at a hotel.
When at the hotel, Williams produced a gun and demanded money, but the victim had none.
According to the sentencing memorandum, Williams then forced the person to perform oral sex at gunpoint and subsequently raped the victim anally.
