A White Bear Lake man has been found not guilty on charges of robbing two men at gunpoint in South St. Paul during the spring of 2015.
Issa Mohammed Aboud, 20, had previously been charged with four criminal counts for the alleged crime, including two counts of first-degree aggravated robbery and two counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, according to court documents.
A jury found him not guilty on all counts Wednesday in Dakota County Court.
Aboud’s attorney, Shirlene Perrin, said Aboud is “feeling great” after the verdict and is thinking about his next steps, including returning to college.
The narrative outlined in the criminal complaint initially filed against him was based on faulty testimony given to police by the alleged victims, Perrin said.
“They told different stories and then their stories changed from the time they talked to police … till they showed up in court,” Perrin said. “I have no idea why they’d do that, but the jury didn’t find them credible.”
Aboud was charged in late May of 2015 with taking a shotgun out of his trunk and demanding money from two men in a parking lot at Kaposia Landing, according to the criminal complaint.
He was accused at the time of making the men kneel in a parking lot, empty their pockets and hand over their wallets.
Officers found a shotgun, phone, wallet and $1,600 on Aboud when he was arrested.
All of the items belonged to Aboud, not the victims, Perrin said Thursday. She added that Aboud actually knew the men, though they told police he was a stranger. She said the men also knew Aboud had a shotgun because he is a hunter and had been talking about it with them that day.
Representatives from the Dakota County attorney’s office were not immediately available to comment on the case.