Plea deal with Rochester Man settle 3 felony cases

Rochester, Minnesota (News KROC-AM) – A Rochester man arrested last fall on multiple felony assault charges has entered a plea deal to settle three criminal cases against him.

Jacob Bale, 18, pleaded guilty today to two counts of second degree assault and one charge of contributing to the running away of a child. In exchange, Olmsted County prosecutors agreed to dismiss a number of other charges, including aiding and abetting the dissemination of pornographic works.

The assault charges stemmed from separate incidents that occurred last October. In one case, Bale was accused of hitting a young man in the head with a machete during an altercation over the theft of jewelry from Bale’s grandmother.

The other incident involved a confrontation between Bale and the father of a missing Stewartville girl. The girl was with Bale when they were spotted by her father and one of his friends walking along North Broadway in Rochester. According to the criminal complaint, Bale began punching and kicking the men before pulling out a knife.

The pornography charge alleged that Bale, who was in Olmsted County Jail at the time, conspired with another man to post a nude photo of the young victim of the machete attack on a social media site with a caption saying he was a “snitch.” The criminal complaint says the photo was taken at a party “under such circumstances that the victim did not expect anyone else to see her”. Most of the evidence in the case involved a recording of a phone conversation between Bale and 19-year-old Robert Hall, who was charged with distributing pornographic works and non-consensual dissemination of private sexual images.

(transcription of part of the conversation below)

Bale is expected to be sentenced on April 5. The plea agreement does not include a recommended sentence. State sentencing guidelines call for a prison term ranging from 12 to 33 months.