ALBERT LEA, Minn. – Separate trials are set for two men arrested after a southern Minnesota robbery led to a cross-border chase.
Tony Viramonh, 30 of Austin, and Joshua James Allen, 31 of Austin, are both charged with 1st degree aggravated robbery and ineligible person in possession of a firearm. Viramonh is also charged with fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle. Albert Lea police say the men entered a home in the 300 block of 2nd Street East on the evening of June 24, pulled out 9 millimeter handguns, and pistol whipped the victim until forcing him to take his television and put it in Allen’s vehicle.
Joshua Allen
Police say one of the guns was apparently fired at some point, with a bullet hole in the living room floor and a bullet found in the basement of the house.
After the robbery, police say Viramonh and Allen drove away from an attempted traffic stop and began a pursuit that lasted 20 minutes, covered 29 miles going into Iowa and then back into Minnesota, and hit speeds as high as 100 miles per hour. Police say they only stopped when their vehicle ran over stop sticks that had been placed in the road and the two men were apprehended at gunpoint.
Viramonh’s trial has been set for September 25, while Allen is scheduled to stand trial on September 11.
