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Alex Friedrich
St. Paul, Minn.

Police: More robberies near U of M, more arrests made

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Two more men have been charged in the Nov. 20 beating and robbery of a University of Minnesota student.

Hennepin County authorities today charged Nehemiah Jovan Richardson, 24, and Freddie Pernell Jackson, 21, with aggravated first-degree robbery.

Last month, authorities charged Myron Richardson-Rivers, 20, of Crystal, with aggravated robbery and receiving stolen property.

The case was one of 25 robberies that rattled students during the fall semester.

U of M chief Greg Hestness
University of Minnesota Police Chief Greg Hestness.
MPR Photo/Tim Nelson

University of Minnesota Police Chief Greg Hestness said police have so far made arrests in six of the cases.

"I've been a robbery detective. It's not an easy crime to solve," Hestness said. "Typically, it's a whodunnit. I mean it's stranger on stranger. So it's not a high solvability rate. So when we're getting 20 or 25 percent on stranger-on-stranger cases, it's pretty good."

All but three of the robberies happened off campus, but the spike in crime has left many students anxious.

Hestness said the robberies have slowed down since Dec. 1, but campus police stopped a robbery early New Year's Day just north of Dinkytown and arrested two people.

"Obviously, it's a quieter time in the neighborhoods and on campus with it being winter break and the colder weather setting in on us," Hestness said. "But we had a crime alert last night, so it's not completely evaporated."

In the case late Thursday night, a man was punched and knocked to the ground just off campus.

A bystander approached, and the assailants fled before they could take anything.