A St. Paul man suspected of repeatedly assaulting clerks at area gas stations before running off with stolen cigarettes is heading to prison.
Kendall Bernard Russell, 47, was sentenced Thursday in Ramsey County District Court to more than three years in prison on one count of simple robbery.
Russell was inside a SuperAmerica store on West Seventh Street in St. Paul early Feb. 9 when he got mad at a clerk who would sell him only two cartons of Newports, instead of the three Russell requested, according to the criminal complaint.
He backed away from the counter and waited for other customers to leave the store before forcing his way behind the counter and taking a swing at the clerk, the complaint said. He grazed the man’s cheek before pushing him to the ground and fleeing with the cigarettes.
Russell, who pleaded guilty to the Feb. 9 incident, is suspected of similar conduct in more than a dozen other cases in St. Paul, Roseville, New Brighton and Minneapolis, according to an affidavit for a search warrant filed in late February in Ramsey County District Court.
His past convictions include robbery, aggravated robbery, domestic assault and theft.