Norwalk man could get 2019 robbery charges dropped

STAMFORD — A Norwalk man must stay out of trouble for two years if he wants felony charges against him dropped, according to a Superior Court judge.

Fresh off a 90-day jail sentence, 24-year-old Braulio Gonzalez entered a conditional guilty plea to a third-degree robbery charge on Tuesday as part of a deal with state prosecutors.

In return for the plea,

Gonzalez was accepted into the accelerated rehabilitation program, a pretrial probation program that could result in his guilty plea being nullified.

If Gonzalez can go two years without facing any criminal charges or infractions, the conditional guilty plea and the case against him will be dismissed. If he is arrested in that time, though, the guilty plea will stick and he could face up to five years in prison.

Gonzalez was facing first-degree robbery, thirddegree larceny and conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery charges stemming from an armed robbery in Norwalk on May 22, 2019.

The robbery occurred in the area of School Street around 5 p.m. that day during a drug deal, according to a police report. An unidentified 22-year-old Norwalk man allegedly agreed to meet with his childhood friend, later identified as then-21-year-old Braulio

Gonzalez, in the hopes of buying a half-pound of marijuana, according to the report.

The two hung out and smoked, the report said, but when the friend tried to drop off Gonzalez at a School Street apartment, a man later identified as Isaac Jackson, then 20, entered the car and pressed a gun against the back of the driver’s head as Gonzalez allegedly pulled another gun from an ankle holster, according to the police report.

Jackson then allegedly choked the driver and told him to give them everything he had, according to an affidavit. The affidavit said Gonzalez and Jackson threatened to kill the man, his girlfriend and his family if he told police anything.

The report said Gonzalez and Jackson robbed the driver of $2,000 in cash and his wallet, a cell phone, a Social Security card, a debit card, 24 grams of marijuana, a folding knife and a gray and black stun gun.

Jackson, now 22, was sentenced to four years in prison in April after he pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery as a part of a plea agreement with state prosecutors. In return, the state dropped additional charges, including conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery, third-degree larceny, carrying a dangerous weapon and resisting arrest.

Gonzalez is next scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 23, 2024.