A second defendant has plead guilty to conspiracy to commit a series of armed robberies in Tulare and Kern Counties.

According to court documents, Ulises Medina, 25, was a member of a conspiracy to commit a series of armed robberies of gas stations, convenience stores and liquor stores from May 19, 2016 to July 26, 2017. Medina and his conspirators committed at least seven armed robberies in Tulare and Kern Counties between May 2016 and January 2017.

The next month, Medina and his associates traveled to Nebraska where they committed two more robberies. They then returned to California where they committed three more armed robberies.

In his guilty plea, Medina admitted that he was part of this conspiracy and that he robbed Joe's Westside in Porterville on January 18, 2017. Prior to the robbery, Medina and other conspirators stole a 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer and drove the vehicle to Joe's Westside where they entered the store wearing masks and carrying guns.

Once inside the store, Medina and others ordered the store clerk to the ground at gunpoint and forced the clerk to open the cash register, before stealing over $8,000 and fleeing with the stolen vehicle. They abandoned the stolen vehicle about half a mile away.

Medina is scheduled to be sentenced on February 25, 2019 and faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Co-defendant, Javier Beltran, 34, of Strathmore, previously pleaded guilty to two counts of use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. Beltran is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge O’Neill on January 14, 2019.