Taney County Prosecuting Attorney, Jeffrey M. Merrell , announced today that AUSTIN R. BAKER DOB: 3/27/1989 of Branson, Missouri plead guilty without a plea agreement to the class A felony of robbery in the first degree in front of Taney County Circuit Judge Mark Orr. Formal sentencing in the matter is set for August 13, 2009.

On July 1, 2008, AUSTIN R. BAKER, entered Dalton’s Convenience Store in Branson, Missouri wearing a mask, pointed a handgun at the store clerk and demanded money from her register. AUSTIN R. BAKER fled the robbery with $928.00 in currency in a red Hyundai Tiburon. AUSTIN R. BAKER was identified by Branson Police Officers from a surveillance video at the store, and clothing used in the robbery was recovered from AUSTIN R. BAKER’s red Hyundai Tiburon. AUSTIN R. BAKER ended up turning himself in at the Chillicothe Police Department in Chillicothe, Missouri.

As there was not a plea agreement to the class A felony of robbery in the first degree, AUSTIN R. BAKER faces the entire range of punishment of a term of years not less than ten (10) years and not to exceed thirty (30) years, or life imprisonment.