Robles given six years for attack

The defendant, Ramon Robles, entered a best-interest plea to the charge of attempted kidnapping and was given a six-year sentence Wednesday by Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley. Robles will be eligible for parole after serving 30 percent of his term but will also be liable for paying a $2,000 fine. He may also be subject to deportation if it is determined he was in the country illegally at the time.

Robles was arrested last year after he was identified as the man who attacked a woman as she stood along with her young son at a soft drink machine on Sparta Street, within eyesight of Robles’ home. The woman said the suspect attacked her from behind and dragged her around to the rear of the building as her son watched in horror.

The victim said she was able to free herself by throwing a punch which stunned her short attacker. She said she last saw the man running across Sparta Street.

It was a short time later the woman was taken to Robles’ nearby home by police, who, acting on her brief description of her attacker, developed Robles as a suspect. Both the woman and her son identified Robles as the attacker when he was brought out of his residence by police. Lawmen reported finding clothes and a hat inside the residence which matched those worn by the attacker. The victim was also able to identify a tattoo on Robles’ arm.

Robles maintained he had been in his house drunk all evening and that there were other people in the neighborhood who fit his description. The defense believed the fact police singled Robles out caused both the victim and her son to be influenced to agree that Robles was the attacker. However, the court, during an earlier evidence suppression hearing, did not feel the police action prejudiced the victim and her son against Robles.

While Robles contended his innocence all the way to state prison, lawmen point out, given the degree of his intoxication, that he was so drunk that he simply cannot remember accosting the woman, noting all the similarities between Robles and the attacker.