The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

Crime & Courts

February 7, 2012

Carthage woman draws prison term



A Jasper County judge assessed a Carthage woman five years in prison Monday for robbery and drug convictions.

Nicole L. Mendiola, 22, pleaded guilty to a reduced count of second-degree robbery and to possession of a controlled substance in an agreement limiting the prison time she might be assessed to five years. The agreement dismissed a third felony count of damaging the property of the Carthage Police Department.

The defendant entered the pleas at a hearing in Jasper County Circuit Court and waived her right to a sentencing-assessment report. Circuit Judge Gayle Crane assessed Mendiola five years on each conviction and ordered that the terms run concurrently.

The robbery conviction stems from an incident Oct. 25 of last year at an apartment in Carthage. The defendant reportedly went to the apartment to see a man with whom she had been communicating by text messages. Once there, she displayed a knife and demanded money, leaving with $40 of the victim’s cash, according to a probable-cause affidavit.

The affidavit alleged that after her arrest later the same day, she punched a hole in the wall of an interview room at the police station. During booking at the Jasper County Jail, a bag containing methamphetamine was found in her possession, leading to the conviction on the count of possession.

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