Driver in Drug Deal Robbery, Shooting Pleads Guilty

ST. CLOUD --  One of three men charged in connection with a July 2014 shooting incident in St. Cloud has agreed to a plea agreement.

Damian Wieneke has pleaded guilty to felony aiding and abetting first degree aggravated robbery.

The 19-year-old St. Cloud man was accused of driving 19-year-old Tyree Sharp and 25-year-old Cornelius Payton to a drug deal in the 200 block of 33rd Avenue South July 8, 2014.

Records show Sharp and Payton entered a vehicle to buy the drugs when Payton pulled out a handgun. Sharp allegedly began taking belongings from an adult passenger in the vehicle.

During the robbery attempt, the driver tried to drive away. Payton is accused of firing two shots, hitting the victim in the shoulder and neck. The complaint states Sharp and Payton ran back to Wieneke's vehicle and fled the scene. Sharp is charged with four felonies including first and second degree attempted murder. He's being held on $825,000 bail.

Payton is charged with five felonies including attempted first degree murder, attempted second degree murder, aiding and abetting first degree aggravated robbery with a dangerous weapon, second degree assault with a dangerous weapon and for being a felon in possession of a gun.

As part of the plea, a second felony charge will be dropped and he must serve a year in jail, cooperate in testifying against Sharp and Payton and be on probation for 20 years.

The cases against Sharp and payton are still moving through the court system.