Rochester man pleads guilty to aggravated robbery, domestic assault

Emily Cutts, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
·1 min read

Apr. 21—Nearly a year after a Rochester man robbed another at gunpoint, the 20-year-old has pleaded guilty to a felony charge.

Chauncey Williams, 20, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Olmsted County District Court to first-degree aggravated robbery and domestic assault strangulation. The two charges are from two separate cases. Both are felonies.

Williams is scheduled to be sentenced on the charges on June 14 by Judge Jacob Allen.

The petition to enter a guilty plea filed with the courts indicates that remaining felony charges of kidnapping, first-degree tampering with a witness, theft and misdemeanor domestic assault will be dismissed at sentencing.

Williams was arrested on the first-degree aggravated robbery charge nearly two weeks after the April 22, 2020, incident. Rochester police were called about 10:30 p.m. that day to the 10 block of Seventh Avenue Southwest for a report of a robbery. Williams pointed what appeared to be a silver handgun at a 26-year-old man, who then turned over his mobile phone, wallet and key lanyard which had his house and car keys on it, according to the criminal complaint. Williams used the keys to take the man's car and ordered the man into the vehicle but dropped him off a short distance later.

Police later found a handgun-style HK BB gun in Williams' home. The BB gun had no orange tip and appeared to be a real firearm, the complaint states.

The domestic assault-strangulation charge was a result of a May 15 incident. He had been released from jail without bail or bond in the robbery case on May 6, according to court records.

Williams has been held at the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center on $50,000 conditional bail since May 21.

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