On Thursday, October 26, 2017, CHRIS BORGES-BESARES, d/o/b 8-03-1996, of Branson, was sentenced to ten (10) years in prison for the class A felony of robbery in the first degree, in Taney County Circuit Court. Judge Eric Eighmy sentenced Borges-Besares, having previously accepted the guilty plea on August 10, 2017. On October 12, 2017, Judge Eighmy also sentenced Juan Rodriguez, of Puerto Rico – a co-defendant of Borges-Besares – to ten (10) years in prison.

Borges-Besares and Rodriguez both admitted, by guilty plea, to robbing the Dalton’s Express, in Branson, on December 15, 2016. They – along with a third man, Jorge Ortez-Velez – entered the Dalton’s Express store with loaded guns and threatened the clerk and a customer in the business. They made off with $502 in cash and were caught a short time later thanks to the quick response of the Branson Police Department.

Ortez-Velez is scheduled to be sentenced on January 2, 2018. The class A felony of robbery in the first degree carries a range of punishment from ten (10) years up to thirty (30) years in the Missouri Department of Corrections.