Man pleads guilty to assault, registry failure

Published 8:50 am Saturday, May 26, 2018

Ryan Charles Ball, 33, of Austin pleaded guilty to felony domestic assault and felony predatory offender fail to register as part of a plea agreement on Friday in Mower County District Court.

Ball was arrested in February after a woman called police to report that he had assaulted her after an argument. She told police they were arguing at her mother’s house in the 200 block of Fourth Street Southwest because Ball thought she was using drugs, according to the complaint. She said he punched her, choked her, dragged her by her hair, and threw her to the floor, then cut his arms with a broken broom handle and threatened to commit suicide.

After Ball left the residence, the woman left the house to walk to a friend’s house. He then started following her in his 1999 Pontiac Grand Am, causing her to go into a local business and call the police.

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Police photographed a scratch on her right cheek, a red injury on the left side of her forehead, a bloody scratch inside of her ear and redness on her neck. She complained of pain in her arm, but declined medical treatment.

Due to prior convictions, Ball is required to register as a predatory offender. Police inquired about Ball’s 1999 Pontiac Grand Am, which was listed as owned by a woman in Taopi. An officer contacted the woman, who provided proof she had sold the vehicle to Ball and had changed the registration through the Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services website.

When asked why he had not listed the car with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Predatory Offender Registration Unit, Ball claimed it belonged to the woman he assaulted. Police contacted the woman, who said that, although they purchased it together, he drove it “every day.”

A review of Ball’s criminal history shows prior convictions for domestic assault, violating predatory offender registration requirements, check forgery, identity theft, terroristic threats and drug possession.

Ball will be sentenced on Oct. 4.