By Sarah Schultz

An Austin man accused of aggravated robbery in June 2018 was acquitted by a jury last week in Freeborn County District Court.

Tony Viramonh, 31, was acquitted of one count of first-degree aggravated robbery and one count of being an ineligible person in possession of a firearm after a 2 1/2-day trial.

The jury deliberated for a little over an hour, said Freeborn County Attorney David Walker.

Viramonh and Joshua James Allen, 31, were accused of robbing a man they knew on June 24 on Second Street in Albert Lea.

According to court documents, the victim told an officer Allen grabbed him around the throat and pushed him into a wall before Viramonh pointed a 9mm handgun at his head.

Allen reportedly took $200 from the victim’s pockets, released him and pulled out a handgun. The two men reportedly pistol-whipped the victim in the head and chest, ordering him to put his TV in Allen’s vehicle.

A chase followed the robbery, reaching speeds of 100 mph on Southeast Broadway Avenue and lasting more than 20 minutes and nearly 30 miles.

Allen in September was convicted of first-degree aggravated robbery after a three-day jury trial on the same charges. He pleaded guilty to fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle before the trial started and was acquitted of a charge of ineligible person in possession of a firearm.

Allen, who remains in custody in the Freeborn County Jail pending sentencing, previously motioned for a new trial.

Viramonh is being held without bail at the Mower County Jail awaiting a contested revocation hearing on a 2016 felony terroristic threats conviction, for which he is currently on probation.