The former professional cyclist Juanmi Mercado was acquitted after Prosecutor’s Office in Granadawho asked him for five and a half years in prison for participating in a gang dedicated to armed robberies, withdrew the charges against him and against another of the three people who this Thursday will sit next to him in the dock .
Remaining with the accused
As for the other two defendants, one of them received six months in prison for the crime of receiving and the other a year and a half for stealing things and receiving, in addition to having to return the 2,600 euros stolen from a supermarket.or, sources from the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA) informed EFE.
They withdrew charges for Mercado
For Mercado and the fourth accused, a woman, the Prosecutor’s Office withdrew the charges during the oral hearing scheduled for this Thursday in the first section of the Granada Court, thus acquitting them.
Winner of stages in the Tour de France and Vuelta Ciclista a España, Mercado is among those investigated for allegedly being part of a criminal gang that was dismantled by the Civil Guard after committing at least sixteen robberies between December 2019 and February 2020.
That operation, called “Zeletasuna”, resulted in the arrest of three people between 23 and 33 years old and the investigation of a fourth, all with criminal records.
In the latter case, it is the former professional cyclist Juanmi Mercado, who won two stages in the Tour de France, in 2004 and 2006, and one in the Vuelta a España in 2001.
The athlete from Granada, who left professional sport in 2007, raced for ten years with the Vitalicio Seguros, iBanesto.com, Quick Step, and Agritubel teams, finishing fifth overall in the 2001 Vuelta a España .
The criminal gang in which the former cyclist was first investigated is accused of committing sixteen robberies with force in different locations in the metropolitan area of Granada with a loot of more than 120,000 euros.
Among these thefts, two were carried out in less than a month in a bicycle shop, with losses amounting to more than 68,000 euros.
Detainees always act by force, not hesitating to punch a hole in a wall of the establishment if they cannot force a door or other type of access, according to investigative sources at the time.
Source: La Verdad
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