An Austin man has entered a plea agreement in a case where he was accused of breaking into the home of a female acquaintance and threatening to kill her with a loaded shotgun.
Joshua Steven Solberg, 26, was originally charged in Mower District Court with two counts of first-degree burglary and two counts of harassment along with single counts of kidnapping, second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, violating a no-contact order and domestic assault by strangulation.
He pleaded guilty on Monday to first-degree burglary-possession of a dangerous weapon. The other seven counts were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
According to the criminal complaint, a woman told Austin police in June that Solberg had pointed a shotgun at her, blaming her for his recent arrest for driving while impaired and threatening to kill her and himself. Solberg continued to point his shotgun at her and threatened her by ejecting and replacing the shotgun shells, the complaint says.
The woman made multiple attempts to escape, but Solberg choked her and put a pillow over her face to prevent her from screaming or making a 911 call, the complaint says. Eventually, she escaped to a neighbor's house when Solberg left the scene in his pickup truck with his shotgun.
ADVERTISEMENT
Several hours later, police arrested Solberg as he was about to turn himself in to authorities. His sentencing date is scheduled for Jan. 14.
