Tacoman who got break in 2012 Halloween robberies going back to prison in different case
A young man given a reprieve from a lengthy sentence he got as a teenager for robbing children of their Halloween candy in Tacoma is headed back to prison for a different crime.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Michael Schwartz convicted 24-year-old Zyion Houston-Sconiers of first-degree unlawful gun possession and unlawful drug possession earlier this year following a bench trial.
On Wednesday Schwartz sentenced him to 11 years, four months in prison for those crimes.
A backpack inside had prescription bottles with his name, a handgun and 13 packaged chunks of heroin. There was also a handgun in the glove box of the vehicle.
Court records said he was one of three people in the vehicle at the time and that he said he had just been picked up from the hospital. He was the only one to be charged with a felony.
The traffic stop was months after he was released from prison for the Halloween robberies.
Houston-Sconiers and Treson Lee Roberts had a .32-caliber revolver when they robbed other youths of candy and cellphones on Halloween 2012 in Tacoma.
He was 17 and Roberts was 16. Both got lengthy prison sentences that were overturned by the state Supreme Court, in a landmark opinion for juvenile justice law that said their youthfulness must be considered at resentencing.
Houston-Sconiers, originally sentenced to 31 years, was released from prison in May 2018.
He got a job at a local lumber yard, and gave an inspirational speech to local middle schoolers.
In addition to the traffic stop charges last year, Houston-Sconiers was charged last month with attempted first-degree assault and unlawful gun possession. He allegedly started a physical altercation with someone Sept. 14 at a business in Tacoma, during which a shot was fired.
He was out on bail at the time.
This story was originally published October 25, 2019 at 6:00 AM.
