A Brazos County district court jury takes less than 90 minutes to convict and sentence a suburban Houston man for theft of an elderly person with two or more prior convictions. The jury gave the maximum punishment of life in prison to 56 year old Lonnie Birt Donaldson Sr. of Rosharon. According to the district attorney’s office, Donaldson previously went to prison in 2007 for theft of an elderly person, in 2000 for engaging in organized criminal activity, and in 2005 he did time in a state jail for theft. Donaldson was found guilty of taking $2,300 dollars from an elderly Bryan resident to fix his roof but never showing up to do the repairs. News release from the Brazos County district attorney’s office: On June 2, 2026, a Brazos County jury found Lonnie Birt Donaldson, Sr. guilty of Theft from an Elderly Individual with Two or More Prior Convictions. Because Donaldson had a long history of theft convictions, the jury sentenced him to life in prison the following day. The crime took place on August 18, 2024. Donaldson went to the home of an elderly Bryan resident and offered to fix his roof for an unusually low price. The homeowner believed him and paid Donaldson $1,300 in cash as a down payment. A few days later, Donaldson returned to the house and asked for another $1,000 to do extra work on the roof. Donaldson took the $2,300 in cash and vanished. He never bought any roofing supplies, never delivered materials to the home, and never did any work on the house. The victim never saw him again. Det. Kenneth Moore of the Bryan Police Department investigated the case. He discovered that Donaldson’s roofing business did not actually exist. The company had no bank account and no other customers. Detective Moore concluded that Donaldson was running a scam and never planned to complete the job. During the trial, the jury also heard from Brazos County District Attorney Investigator Kindale Pittman. Investigator Pittman, a fingerprint expert, proved that Donaldson was the same man convicted of multiple past crimes across Burleson, Milam, and Brazos Counties. Donaldson’s criminal record stretches back more than 25 years. In 2000, he was sentenced to prison for four years for Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity–Theft. In 2005, he was sentenced to state jail for theft. In 2007, he received an eight-year prison sentence for Theft from an Elderly Person, plus a 12-year sentence for Possession with Intent to Deliver a Controlled Substance. Because of this extensive criminal history, his punishment is statutorily enhanced to a minimum of 25 years up to life in prison. In closing arguments, prosecutors reminded the jury that Donaldson had spent nearly 30 years preying on innocent victims across three different counties. They asked the jury for a sentence that would permanently stop him from stealing from anyone else. The jury took less than 25 minutes to find Donaldson guilty, and less than an hour to sentence him to life in prison. Statement from Brazos County assistant district attorneys Robert Vetter and Tiffany Larsen: “This defendant used lies to steal the hard-earned money of our most vulnerable citizens for decades. This life sentence ensures he can never target an innocent victim again. Our office remains committed to protecting our seniors from fraud.”
