Austin man charged in pair of assaults
Published 8:54 am Tuesday, October 31, 2017
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Gilbert
Jeremy James Gilbert, 30, of Austin is charged with three felonies in Mower County District Court related to an incident in December 2016, and two more in an Oct. 16 incident.
In the December incident, he is charged with two counts of fifth-degree assault, each of which carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, and one count of false imprisonment, which has a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
In the Oct. 16 incident, he is charged with two counts of fifth-degree assault.
According to the complaints, the alleged victim, an adult man, is the same in both incidents and he went to the hospital with injuries each time.
After the first of the two incidents, Gilbert was arrested Dec. 28, 2016. Austin police officers found him hiding in a closet in the 1300 block of 28th Ave. NE.
Police began searching for Gilbert after responding to Mayo Clinic Health System-Austin on Dec. 20 because of a report about an assault. The alleged victim told police he was assaulted by Gilbert when they were painting an apartment together. Gilbert took the man’s phone after he received a text message from a female Gilbert was familiar with. Then he would not let the man leave.
“You’re not leaving. You’re my hostage,” Gilbert said, according to the man, who added that Gilbert slammed a door on his arm when he attempted to escape.
When arrested, Gilbert told police that he and the man did not have “any problems” that day they were painting.
Gilbert has two fifth-degree assault convictions in 2016, according to the complaint.
He made his first appearance in court on Oct. 26