Alleged drunken burglar pleads not guilty

Published 10:24 am Monday, August 10, 2015

A 36-year-old Austin man has pleaded not guilty for allegedly burglarizing a home and a lawn truck last month.

Hector Estrada faces one count of second-degree burglary and two counts of theft.

Estrada

Estrada

According to a court complaint, Estrada called police on relatives at the 600 block of 10th Avenue Southwest at about 1:18 a.m. July 26 after he said one of them hit him as part of an ongoing feud.

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Yet his relatives told police Estrada became belligerent after he tried to leave a 42-inch Samsung smart TV at the house just before 1 a.m., but his relatives wouldn’t allow it. Estrada allegedly tried to attack one of his relatives before he was punched in the face.

Shortly after that, a homeowner at the 300 block of 10th Avenue Southwest reported someone had broken into her unlocked home and stole her 42-inch TV.

The victim got her TV back after police found it in some bushes near Estrada’s relatives’ home.

One of Estrada’s relatives had given him a ride to a home in northwest Austin, but police later found him riding a bicycle shortly before 2:30 a.m. near 14th Street and Fifth Avenue Northwest.

Officers noticed three gas-powered weed trimmers nearby and a lawn service truck a block away, which Estrada allegedly broke into. Estrada allegedly told police “I didn’t burglarize nothing,” before he was arrested, according to the report.

At the Mower County jail, Estrada’s blood-alcohol content was tested and measured at .208, more than twice the legal limit.