Sauk Rapids Man Pleads Guilty in Drunken Assault and Standoff
FOLEY -- A Sauk Rapids man has pleaded guilty to a pair of felonies stemming from a bizarre chain of events last November. Forty-three-year-old Jesse Kent averted a jury trial Monday by pleading guilty to simple robbery and making threats of violence.
Benton County sheriff's deputies had been called to an area in the 8500 block of Highway 95 Northeast November 9, 2018. The caller said Kent had been drinking heavily and was walking toward an address a half-mile away where there was a domestic abuse no-contact order against him.
Shortly thereafter, another man called police and said he had been hunting nearby and while sitting in his truck, Kent climbed in without permission and starting punching the truck owner in the face 10-20 times. Kent also allegedly tried to take the man's rifle and truck keys during a struggle that lasted several minutes.
Officers later located Kent on the front steps of a house and heard him make comments similar to "come and get me" before going inside. Records show Kent then came back out of in a shooting stance while pointing what looked like a gun toward officers.
Deputies called in the SWAT team to enter the home and arrest Kent. Police say they found him in the bathtub with a smashed air pistol also in the home.
Kent will be sentenced in January.