Former Tacoma prep football star who tried to rob woman he met online has been sentenced
A former Lincoln High School football star who went on to be a lineman for Utah State University had been sentenced for trying to rob a woman he met through an online hookup ad.
Quazzel White, 23, pleaded guilty Thursday in Pierce County Superior Court to armed first-degree burglary and felony harassment. The same day, Judge Joseph Evans ordered him to a low-end sentence of one year, nine months in prison.
White originally was charged with first-degree attempted robbery, unlawful imprisonment and theft of a motor vehicle for trying to force a 31-year-old woman at gunpoint to get money for him from a Federal Way bank on May 9, 2022, threatening to kill her if she didn’t.
Prosecutors asked the court to change those charges because White had no criminal history and was still pleading guilty to multiple felonies, including a strike offense. Deputy prosecuting attorney Dione Hauger wrote in the court filing that the agreement adequately held the defendant accountable.
The News Tribune was not able to reach White’s attorney from the Department of Assigned Counsel for comment.
White transferred to Utah State from Texas Christian University in 2021. He was a senior when he was charged, and he was immediately suspended from the team. According to Utah State Athletics’ website, White played 14 games for the Aggies.
Before college, White attended Lincoln High School from 2013 to 2017 and was part of the winningest senior class in the high school’s history, according to archive stories from The News Tribune. He won 38 games in his four years at the school and was named the 3A Pierce County League’s offensive lineman of the year in 2016.
He was out on bail for much of the time his criminal case was pending, according to court records, except for about a month from May to June when he was arrested on a bench warrant for failing to appear for a court date.
Charging documents in the case alleged that White went to the victim’s Fife apartment armed with a 9 mm handgun with an extended magazine. Records state the woman posted an ad online and was expecting to meet with him to “hook up” and be paid in exchange.
Instead, court documents state, White demanded money from the woman and threatened to kill her if she didn’t do what he said. After allegedly forcing the woman to drive to a bank in Puyallup that turned out to be closed, the two went to a Chase Bank in Federal Way. The victim went in alone and was able to get help from bank staff, who called police.
Federal Way Police Department officers arrived, and White fled, crashing the victim’s car in a parking lot. The 6-foot-3 and 310-pound offensive lineman — who was wearing black gloves and a face mask — ran from officers. White was taken into custody, and according to the declaration for determination of probable cause, he declined to make a statement to police.
