By MN Crime Watch, December 17, 2019
Two north Minneapolis men are facing aggravated robbery charges after assaulting and robbing the boyfriend of a female friend after she called the two men and told them she was “disrespected” by her boyfriend, according charges filed Monday in Anoka County.
The identical criminal complaints state that on Dec. 15, just after 10:30 p.m., Columbia Heights and Fridley Police were dispatched to a report of a robbery and subsequently located the victim at a gas station on the 4000 block of University Avenue Northeast, in Columbia Heights, MN.
The victim told police that he had been hanging out all weekend with his girlfriend, identified in the complaint as “JMG.” He said the couple had an argument that resulted in JMG calling two male friends to her apartment. The male friends were later fully identified as Xaveon Qu’vail Brown, 18, and Hubert Tyrone Charles Burton, III, 19.
The victim said that once Brown and Burton arrived, they “expressed aggression” toward him so he decided to leave his girlfriend’s apartment. The victim eventually left the building and began walking to his bus stop when he heard Brown and Burton yelling behind him and felt Burton strike him in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground.
Brown and Burton stomped and kicked the victim repeatedly before going through his pockets and taking his Apple iPhone 6, a phone charger, and his ear buds. At one point, the victim looked up and saw his girlfriend, JMG, watching as he was attacked. She did nothing to help him, the complaint said.
The victim said Burton used his finger to act like he had a gun under his jacket and told the victim to give them his phone’s passcode or he would “blast him.” After the victim gave up the pass code, Brown told the victim that if he called police they would kill him. The pair ran back towards JMG’s apartment building.
Based on police scanner audio at the time, Minneapolis Crime Watch posted on Facebook about the police search for suspects in the area of the 4100 block of 4th Street Northeast, where the victim had reportedly directed them.
Police arrived at JMG’s apartment and entered the building. As they neared JMG’s unit, they could hear several voices laughing from inside. Police eventually arrested Brown and Burton and JMG from inside her apartment. An investigator subsequently recovered the victim’s iPhone from behind JMG’s bed. The pass code and fingerprint log-in had already been changed in the short time between the robbery and when police arrived. Inside a jacket that Burton agreed was his, officers found a phone charger, ear buds, and baggies of marijuana. No gun was found, the complaint said.
Burton told police that JMG called them over because she had been “disrespected” but claimed he and Brown left only to go to a liquor store, but once they were outside, the victim began “instigating” against them, the complaint said. Burton said that the victim swung at them and missed and slipped on the ice which caused him to fall on the ground. Burton denied stealing anything and insists the ear buds and charger found in his jacket belonged to him and had no idea how the victim’s iPhone got behind JMG’s bed. Brown told police that the victim threatened them and denied ever leaving the apartment to have interactions with victim.
CHARGES
Brown, whose address is listed on the 2300 block of Logan Avenue North, and Burton, whose address is listed on the 5200 block of Penn Avenue North, have each been charged with one felony count of second-degree aggravated robbery, which carries a maximum penalty of up to 15 years in prison. The Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Grid, however, allows for sentencing terms lower than that depending on the criminal history score derived from any prior convictions. The court process also allows for amended, or lowered, charges as well as plea agreements that could affect sentencing.
Brown was just convicted in Hennepin County in November on a charge of misdemeanor trespassing on private property. He received a stay-of-imposition (no sentence imposed) from Judge Gary R. Larson. Brown was alternatively placed on probation to the court for a term of one year despite the fact that Brown also has another open case in Ramsey County for misdemeanor fleeing police.
No prior convictions or open cases could immediately be found for Burton in Hennepin, Ramsey or Anoka Counties.
Brown and Burton each remain in custody on $5,000 bail with conditions or $25,000 without conditions. They are scheduled to make their next court appearances in Anoka County on Jan. 15 and Jan. 16, respectively.
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Top photo: Hubert Tyrone Charles Burton, III, and Xaveon Qu’vail Brown. Source: Anoka County Sheriff.
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