Guilty pleas entered in Ephrata armed robbery

EPHRATA — Guilty pleas have been entered in the case of a man who robbed a person at gunpoint and fired a shot in Ephrata over the summer.

Alfredo Silva, 25, of Ephrata, pleaded guilty in Grant County Superior Court to first-degree robbery, two counts of second-degree assault and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. Sentencing has been set for Jan. 28. The first-degree robbery charge carries a standard sentencing range of 129-171 months in prison (maximum of life), while the second-degree assault counts carry standard ranges of 63-84 months in prison (maximum of 10 years) and the firearm possession charge has a standard range of 87-116 months in prison (maximum of 10 years).

On Aug. 13 Silva robbed a man at gunpoint at an apartment complex in the 1400 block of Basin Street Southwest in Ephrata. Court documents state two Hispanic males arrived at the complex and knocked on the door of an apartment. As they were leaving the complex one of two Hispanic males asked one of the victims in the incident for a cigarette. Silva returned a short time later and pointed a gun at two males on the porch of an apartment, demanded money, pointed a gun at one of the victim’s forehead and demanded his belongings. He proceeded to fire a shot into a nearby couch and aimed the gun at the victim a second time.

The victim turned over his wallet and fled on foot. Silva’s sister admitted to picking up her brother and two other people in the Safeway parking lot after the shooting. Video surveillance obtained by police shows Silva in his sister’s vehicle looking through a wallet. The sister was later contacted and a search warrant was obtained for her apartment, where a credit card and social security card belonging to the robbery victim were found. The sister was charged with rendering criminal assistance, but the charge was later dismissed. Silva was later apprehended and booked into jail.