David Valdez Jr., 32, won’t be shopping for Delta 9 anytime soon—unless TDCJ starts stocking it. He pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery for holding up a smoke shop on Slide Road last August, where security footage showed him pointing a gun at two employees while they stuffed tobacco, THC products, and cash into a bag. Classic “take everything but the bong water” move.
Valdez was already serving an eight-year federal sentence, but now he’s got 25 years with the state too. Lucky him, they’ll run concurrently, so he won’t be racking up extra decades—just the one long stretch. A previous burglary charge involving a family member’s home got tossed, because apparently even prosecutors have to pick their battles.
He got 400 days of credit for time already served since his SWAT takedown in August 2024, but that’s not much comfort when the only smoke shop in your future is the prison commissary.
In Lubbock, robbing a smoke shop may get you a bag of weed—but it’ll also get you 25 years to think about whether it was worth it.
