A 17-year-old boy is accused of assaulting a married couple as they were getting into their vehicle in St. Paul’s Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood last month and stealing the woman’s purse and the man’s wallet.
The incident took place about 6 p.m. Nov. 20 shortly after the couple left Obb’s Sports Bar in the 1300 block of Burns Avenue, according to Ramsey County court documents.
The robbery was one of more than 20 in St. Paul with matching characteristics in the last month. Police warned the public about the crime spree last week. In one incident, a 52-year-old woman was dragged by a car after she was robbed.
In the November case, as the couple approached their vehicle parked on Point Douglas Road, the man felt someone point a gun to the back of his head.
“(Expletive), I’ll shoot you,” the gunman threatened as he grabbed the man’s wallet from his back pocket, the man later told police, court documents say.
His wife, who had just entered the vehicle on the passenger side, told officers she saw two males start to fight her husband as he was trying to get in the driver’s side door.
Concerned, she got out of the vehicle and started yelling at the assailants.
One of them came at her and grabbed her purse, causing her to fall to the ground, she said.
The individual started dragging her on the concrete as she clung to her purse.
Eventually the woman let go and the two took off.
Later in the evening, the woman told police that her Costco credit card had been used at a gas station as well as a McDonald’s on Suburban Avenue in St. Paul.
Officers brought images of the assailants captured on Obb’s surveillance system and showed it to staff working at the restaurant.
The employees reportedly recognized the teens, and said they’d been in the restaurant around 8 p.m. that night and recalled them arguing with another customer.
Police reviewed the restaurant’s surveillance footage, which showed the suspects inside along with four other teenagers.
The suspects laughed and exchanged high-fives as they ordered, court document say. Later, they picked a fight with another customer.
Still photos from the video were presented to a St. Paul gang unit investigator, and she recognized the assailants as Gerald Darious Smith, 17, of St. Paul, and another teen not named in court documents.
Smith was charged this week with one count of first-degree aggravated robbery, according to the juvenile petition filed in Ramsey County District Court.
Neither Smith’s mother, nor his public defender, could be immediately reached for comment.
On Friday, police said that the investigation into the string of robberies is ongoing.
Mara H. Gottfried contributed to this report.