Flores pleads guilty in Mason County court, being extradited to Texas.

Flores

Flores pleads guilty in Mason County court, being extradited to Texas. 

#MasonCountyNews.

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief.

LUDINGTON — Joseph Flores, 30, of Texas, the man who was arrested by sheriff’s deputies Monday following a two-hour stand off in a house in the 6100 block of South Brye Road in Summit Township, pleaded guilty today in 79th District Court. He was sentenced by Judge Peter Wadel to time served and is expected to be extradited to Texas on robbery charges.

Flores was arraigned in Mason County’s 79th District Court late Wednesday afternoon where he was charged with driving while license suspended second offense, operating a vehicle without security (no insurance), and furnishing a false identification. The State of Texas has also requested a hold be placed on Flores in reference to a robbery warrant out of Matagorda County, Texas.

Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole said the incident stemmed from a Saturday, July 8 traffic stop in Summit Township. “The man had provided the deputy with a false name,” Cole said. “Later that night, the deputy learned the suspect’s true identity and after some digging learned that he was wanted on a robbery warrant out of Texas,” Cole said. Throughout the weekend deputies had been trying to find him. On Monday, July 10, shortly after 11, three deputies were tipped off that Flores was at a Summit Township house and that he was reportedly hiding.

Cole said deputies secured the house and then called in the Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team (SERT). “It was unknown if he was armed or not and we didn’t want to take any chances of the deputies getting injured or the suspect being injured. We hailed the suspect for two hours in a PA (public address) to get him to come out.”

Cole said after two hours, a robot was sent in, which cleared all but two of the rooms. “We then sent the SERT in which cleared the two remaining rooms and they found him hiding in the last room they checked.”

A resident of the home, who did not wish to be identified, said the man had been staying there on a temporary basis as a guest of another guest.

“No shots were fired, nobody got hurt and everybody is going home and that’s our end goal so we are pleased with the outcome,” the Sheriff said.

Bond was set at $10,000 cash only by Judge Peter Wadel.