A 28-year-old man from El Salvador who was arrested in Aspen last month on stalking charges pleaded guilty to a lesser offense in district court Monday.
Two local teenage girls reported to police that a “creepy” man, Fermin Membreno-Membreno, had been following them around on local buses and had taken their picture with a cell phone on an upvalley bus while rubbing his crotch.
He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment yesterday and was handed a one-year deferred judgment by Judge James Boyd, meaning a conviction will not be entered against him unless he runs afoul of the law during the next year. However, he is most likely going to be deported to his native El Salvador before then, and he remains in Pitkin County Jail at the request of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities.
Membreno-Membreno is also barred from coming within 100 feet of the girls and their families.
“He fully admits he may have taken a long look at these women,” said his attorney, Mark Rubenstein. But Rubenstein suggested that some of the teenagers’ allegations, like groin fondling, were exaggerated.
“He admitted to liking the pretty young girls and that he may have had a scratch around the same time,” Rubenstein said. “The facts may have, to some extent, been distorted by these young women.”
Yesterday’s court appearance constituted Membreno-Membreno’s second attempt at entering a plea. In court on June 2, he signed a guilty plea agreement but then declared to Judge Boyd, through an interpreter, that he was innocent.
His arraignment was then delayed for two weeks, at Rubenstein’s request. Yesterday, Rubenstein said Membreno-Membreno did not truly believe he was innocent, and that he “indicated that he was merely confused by some of the questions the court asked.”
andrew@aspendailynews.com
