Minnesota man pleads guilty to February rampage

A Minnesota man accused of intentionally wrecking his car, stealing another, assaulting strangers and running from the police during a premeditated rampage in February pleaded guilty Wednesday in a Minnehaha County courtroom.

Jeremy Heath Albers, 36, of Hills, Minn., pleaded guilty to robbery in the first degree, aggravated assault and aggravated assault on law enforcement. As part of Albers' plea deal, the maximum he can spend in prison is 40 years. He also was ordered to pay $49,319.33 in restitution to the victims.

The incident happened Feb. 2. Albers pulled a knife on a man who had followed him as he walked away from a crash near 24th Street and Minnesota Avenue.

He then used the knife to threaten three people in a Ford Explorer at a gas station, police spokesman Sam Clemens said, ordering the driver out and breaking the nose of the backseat passenger before steering the SUV toward officers arriving on the scene.

The passenger could not get out of the vehicle before Albers drove away. He pulled across Minnesota Avenue, ran into a used vehicle at a car sales lot and drove through a fence before getting out of the SUV and running away.

Clemens said officers used a police dog to find and capture Albers, who was hiding in a garage. A preliminary breath test put his blood alcohol content at 0.26 – more than three times the legal limit to drive.

Following his arrest, police said Albers told officers, "I hit everyone I could."

In court Wednesday, prosecutor Tom Hensley read the facts of the case, and Albers agreed that they were accurate.

Minnehaha County Deputy Public Defender Victoria Reker said Albers was intoxicated and doesn't remember any of it. She said he reviewed the video evidence of the incident and said it was him on the tape.

Under the plea agreement, Albers cannot be charged as a habitual offender.