Austin police say a woman robbed a man at gunpoint after she met him through the Facebook Messenger app.
According to investigators, 40-year-old Nicole Michelle Esparza exchanged messages with a man on the app and planned to meet for a date.
On May 24, the two decided Esparza would pick him up from work the next day.
When she got there, another man was driving the car. The three of them drove to a convenience store to pick up beer and then went to an apartment complex in the 6100 block of Manor Road, near Springdale Road.
The driver stayed in the car. Esparza and the man she met on Facebook went inside.
The man told police Esparza went into the kitchen to put away the beer before she walked into a bedroom and went into a closet.
The man says she was holding a black semi-automatic handgun when she came out. That’s when he says she pointed the gun at him, forced him to give her his backpack and then demanded he strip so she could search through his pockets for money.
After stealing $200, the man told police Esparza forced him to get dressed and walk back outside to the car.
Esparza and the driver took the man to a nearby corner store and made him get out of the car.
Surveillance video from the store showed a car driving into a parking lot and a woman making an aggressive movement with her arms and hands until the man got out.
Investigators pulled the registration information from the vehicle and tracked Esparza and the driver down. They also matched the two to pictures on Facebook and the messages that were sent to set up the encounter.
Esparza faces a charge of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. Police say she not yet been arrested.
