Guilty pleas entered in robbery case

Published 8:11 am Tuesday, October 26, 2010

An Austin man who was charged in June for allegedly trying to rob two teenagers has entered into a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to three of the charges against him.

Eric Matthew Louis Medina, 25, pleaded guilty to felony robbery, felony assault of a police officer and fifth-degree misdemeanor assault Friday in Mower County court.

According to a police report, the incident in question occurred in June in the 700 block of Fifth Avenue Northwest. Medina allegedly approached the driver’s side window of the car in which the teenagers were parked and began talking to one of them, asking him if he had ever been robbed.

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Medina then told the teenager he was getting robbed and punched him twice in the nose, the report said. The teenager emptied his pockets but had no money, which allegedly angered Medina, who punched the teenager in the face again.

The other teenager, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, refused to cooperate with Medina, the report stated. Both teenagers then left the vehicle and fled, with Medina chasing them.

The two teenagers positively identified Medina as the attacker, the report stated, and the teenager who had been punched was able to recover the items from his pocket, which had been left at the scene.

After the arrest, Medina allegedly began complaining of chest pain, so he was taken to the Austin Medical Center. There, he acted belligerently toward officers, the report stated, at times spitting at them. He was then taken back to jail.

Medina was apparently drunk during the incident, the court report stated.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 4, 2011.

Reporter Mike Rose contributed to this report.