Topeka man sentenced to 18 years for armed robbery of Lawrence Kwik Shop in 2017

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Darren Logan Henry is pictured at a hearing on Sept. 25, 2023, in Douglas County District Court.

A Topeka man was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Tuesday in Douglas County District Court for an armed robbery in Lawrence in 2017.

The defendant, Darren Logan Henry, 31, was convicted in January of one felony count of aggravated robbery using a handgun. The incident occurred on Sept. 5, 2017, at a Kwik Shop at 845 Mississippi St., where Henry pointed a gun at the store clerk, demanded money, then fled, according to a release from the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office.

Judge Stacey Donovan sentenced Henry to 216 months, or 18 years, in prison for the crime.

While the case was awaiting disposition, Henry picked up several charges, including a felony criminal threat charge that occurred in 2021. He was convicted of the charge in October of 2023. In May 2023 he was charged with trafficking contraband into the Douglas County Jail and pleaded guilty to the charge in December 2023.

Henry was also charged with solicitation of capital murder in 2022. According to court records, Henry had attempted to hire another jail inmate to harm the store clerk in his 2017 armed robbery case. The case was later dismissed after a witness appeared for a preliminary hearing but left before testifying. The charge has been refiled, but no hearings have been scheduled.

Henry has additional felony convictions in Shawnee County for aggravated battery in 2013 and felon in possession of a firearm in 2019.