The man who kidnapped his children from a former girlfriend in Cottage Grove has pleaded guilty in Washington County District Court.

Jeffrey Lo, 24, Minneapolis, could serve as much as 15 years in prison, the county attorney’s office said recently.

According to the criminal complaint, Lo triggered an Amber Alert on June 7 when he kidnapped his two daughters, ages 1 and 3.

At 6:30 a.m., Lo hid in the back of his ex-girlfriend’s minivan in the driveway of her parents’ home in Cottage Grove. When she got into the van, Lo hit her on the head with either a gun or the magazine of a gun.

He then pushed her aside to drive the van himself. The woman later escaped, and Lo drove away with the girls in the rear seats.

Four hours later, police recovered the abandoned van. A police helicopter spotted Lo lying in a nearby field, clutching the girls.

Lo pleaded guilty to two counts of kidnapping and one count of aggravated robbery.

A 62-year-old woman walking around St. Paul’s Lake Como was pistol whipped Tuesday morning in an attempted robbery, according to police.

It happened when she came to a bend where the lights weren’t working. A male jumped out from the bushes and the woman said, “You startled me,” according to Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman.

Then another male came up behind her and grabbed her by the arm. The first male pulled out a handgun, pointed it at her head and demanded her belongings about 5:30 a.m. at Como Boulevard near Rose Avenue, Linders said.

The woman began screaming and fighting and bit one of the males in the arms, according to Linders. At that point, the male with the gun hit her in the head with the weapon, causing a cut.

The woman kept fighting and eventually the suspects ran away without getting anything. She did not need medical attention at the scene, according to Linders.

Police set up a perimeter and officers, including a K-9, tried to track the suspects, but did not find them, Linders said.

The woman was unable to provide detailed suspect descriptions because “it was dark and she was taken by surprise,” Linders said.

The case remains under investigation. Linders said he was unaware of other recent cases in the area that could be related.

There have been a recent rash of fatal shootings in St. Paul, though violent crime overall was down in the city in the first nine months of the year, compared with the same period last year, according to police department statistics.

A Minneapolis man is accused of threatening to shoot up a Mounds View movie theater after an arcade game ate his money, authorities say.

The incident took place last Friday evening after Michael Deangelo Sanders, 30, put $20 in arcade machines at New Vision Theater and only got to play $2 worth, according to charges filed this week in Ramsey County District Court.

Frustrated that the machines wouldn’t give him back his money, Sanders reportedly sought reimbursement from theater staff.

When an assistant manager told him she could only give him $6 because the theater doesn’t own the arcade games, Sanders “blew up,” charges say.

He threatened to “shoot this (expletive) up” if she didn’t hand over the rest of his money, according to the criminal complaint.

Other people at the theater also heard him threaten to have “others roll up and shoot the place up,” the complaint said.

Officers who responded to the scene suspected Sanders might have been struggling from a mental illness or under the influence of drugs, and asked him what was going on.

He said “People who don’t give people their money should be shot,” and threatened to fight one of the officers, charges say.

One of the officers was able to deescalate the situation, and arrested Sanders.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged him with one count of felony level threats of violence.

He is expected to make his next court appearance in the case Nov. 13.

Sanders’ criminal history includes misdemeanor convictions for driving after suspension and possession of marijuana in a vehicle.

A St. Paul woman was charged with assault Tuesday after authorities say she attacked a police officer with a screwdriver and kitchen knife.

Officer Joe Ryan stopped Articia Latroyce Moore, 23, as she was leaving the Lunds & Byerlys grocery store in downtown St. Paul on Monday evening after a store employee informed him that Moore had items hidden in her pants and jacket, according to a criminal complaint filed in Ramsey County District Court.

Ryan, who was off duty and providing security at the store, told Moore that he wouldn’t issue her a citation for the theft but said she needed to return the items, the complaint said.

Moore reportedly denied stealing anything, but the officer could see items under her clothing.

Eventually, she handed over a drink but became “uncooperative” when the officer asked her to return the rest of the goods, the complaint said.

That’s when Ryan noticed what looked like the handle of a black knife in Moore’s pocket, and grabbed her arm.

Moore wrestled her arm free and pulled out a screwdriver and swung it overhead at the officer’s chest, the complaint said.

A struggle ensued, and at one point Moore pulled out a black-handled kitchen knife and cut Ryan on his left upper arm, according to the complaint.

Officers found the knife and screwdriver near the scene, according to the complaint.

Ryan suffered a superficial cut to his arm, but avoided an injury to his chest because the blade failed to penetrate his armored vest, police said.

Moore was arrested and declined to provide a statement to officers.

She was charged Tuesday with one count of second-degree assault and a second count of fourth-degree assault against a police officer. She is expected to make her first court appearance on the charges Wednesday.

No attorney was listed for her in court records.

The incident wasn’t the first time Moore has become combative with St. Paul police recently, according to spokesman Steve Linders.

At a downtown St. Paul homeless shelter on Aug. 21, Moore punched an officer in the face and repeatedly threatened to bite and kick officers while being taken into custody, Linders said.

She was subsequently convicted of obstructing the legal process.

Moore was arrested for obstructing the legal process a second time Aug. 31 after officers were called to stop her from harassing people near Sixth and Wacouta streets in downtown, Linders said. That case is pending.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — A 24-year-old woman suffered stab wounds in a seemingly random attack Tuesday as she led a group of children from a park to a nearby school.

The incident happened at about 3 p.m. near Folwell Elementary School in southwest Rochester. A man, later apprehended by police, crossed a street, approached and attacked the group, including the woman and a “small number” of children.

The woman, who is not a Rochester Public Schools staff member, protected the children and took the brunt of the assault. She was stabbed one time in the back with an undetermined object.

The woman told police she saw the attacker walking on the other side of the street acting strangely.

The suspect later crossed the street to follow the woman and children. The woman put herself between the man and the children. That’s when the man came up behind her and stabbed her.

Folwell school was under lockdown for about 20 minutes while police searched for the suspect.

David Daniel Galvan, 28, who fled on foot, was arrested at about 3:15 p.m. without incident. Officers found a pair of long, pointed scissors in his waistband. The woman positively identified him as her attacker.

Galvan is being held at the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center, and will likely be arraigned Thursday.

A 16-year-old admitted to bringing a loaded gun to his high school in St. Paul this week, authorities say.

St. Paul police officers responded to Jennings Community School, formerly Jennings Experiential High School, on University Avenue around 10 a.m. Monday on a report that a student at the school might be carrying a firearm, according to a juvenile petition filed in Ramsey County District Court.

Officers spoke with a staff member who reported that two students told her that Jarquise Dovanta Brown-Williams — one of their 16-year-old male classmates — had brought a gun into the building, according to the juvenile petition that charged the teen with felony-level weapons possession.

The staff member then showed them a photograph from the social media app Snapchat that appeared to show Brown-Williams holding a gun in a school bathroom, the charging document said.

Brown-Williams was brought into the dean’s office and searched by officers. A loaded 9-mm handgun was found in his shorts’ pocket, the petition said.

Brown told officers that he got the gun from someone on his way to school that day, but added that “he (couldn’t) say too much … (or) say somebody’s name,” according to the charges.

The teen reportedly smelled “strongly of marijuana” at the time, and told officers that he smoked it earlier that morning.

Brown-Williams pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a dangerous weapon on school property shortly after he was charged Tuesday, court records say.

He is being held in the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center pending what amounts to the sentencing hearing in the juvenile case, which is scheduled to take place Oct. 21.

“In the best interests of the child, the court may detain the child in Juvenile Detention Center because continuing residence in the home is contrary to the welfare of the child and there is reason to believe that if the child were released, the child’s own behavior would not be safe for self or others,” according to a legal document filed in the case.

Jennings Community School is a grades 7-12 charter school in St. Paul that educates about 80 students, according to the director of the school, Bill Zimniewicz.

Noting that the state’s data privacy act prevents him from discussing individual students, Zimniewicz said federal law requires any student who brings a firearm or other dangerous weapon to school to be expelled.

The school’s board plans to discuss disciplinary action stemming from the incident at its meeting next week, Zimniewicz said, adding that members will also discuss at that time whether staff should schedule organization conversations with the student body about what happened.

He said a letter went home to parents about the incident Monday night, adding that it saddens him that schools are confronted with this issue.

“All schools, whether public schools, private schools, charter schools, it doesn’t matter, safety is the utmost objective or goal,” he said. “We want to ensure people’s safety and we do our best to do so. … It’s just kind of a sad reality in our modern world where guns are so readily available.”

Zimniewicz added that staff responded to the incident “calmly, professionally, respectfully and safely.”

Neither the guardian listed for Brown-Williams’ in his juvenile complaint nor his public defender could be immediately reached for comment.

Police are investigating an Elk River man they say installed hidden cameras inside two department store dressing rooms at the Mall of America so he could record people undressing.

A search warrant affidavit filed in Hennepin County District Court this week states that four hidden GoPro cameras disguised as “electrical type boxes” were found in dressing rooms inside Hollister and Forever 21 locations at the Bloomington-based mega mall between March and July this year.

At least two of the cameras were tucked under fake shelves installed at waist-height in the fitting rooms so that they wouldn’t be easily detected.

According to the affidavit, the cameras were used to secretly record customers as they changed and undressed inside the stores, both of which “have a customer base that primarily consists of teenage females and children.”

Police arrested Trevor Alan Nielson, 41, late last month after a store manager at Forever 21 saw him enter a dressing room in the store Sept. 28, the affidavit said.

The manager reportedly recognized him as the same man she saw go into a dressing room and stay inside for 40 minutes on the day the store discovered a hidden camera last July.

The woman called police, and officers showed up and waited outside the fitting rooms while Nielson remained inside for about an hour, the affidavit said.

He was detained while police searched the dressing rooms. A hidden camera was found inside a stall two doors down from the one Nielson exited.

Nielson had mounted the camera in the stall and then went to a stall nearby “to sit and watch/record customers dressing and undressing on his phone,” which was connected to the camera via Bluetooth or other wireless technology, the affidavit said.

In an interview later conducted at the Bloomington Police Department, Nielson reportedly admitted to installing the hidden camera “for a thrill,” and said he did the same thing about 10 other times in dressing rooms at the Mall of America and other area malls.

A Hollister at the Maplewood Mall is conducting a similar investigation after finding a hidden camera there.

Nielson acknowledged that some of the people caught on his hidden cameras could have been children, but said “he couldn’t always tell,” the affidavit said.

He reportedly uploads the videos to his laptop computer, where he estimated he has “several hundred” photos and videos that consist of “nature and people, possibly some children,” the affidavit said.

Nielson, who was arrested on suspicion of gross-misdemeanor-level invasion of privacy, has not been charged with a crime.

He told police that he lives with his girlfriend in Elk River along with four children.

Nielson admitted during his interview to also secretly recording his girlfriend’s 15-year-old daughter in the bathroom and shower as well as his girlfriend.

He said he constructed his camera boxes at home, adding that he knew his behavior was wrong and that he didn’t want his family to find out about it, the affidavit said.

Nielson could not be immediately reached for comment.

MOORHEAD, Minn. — A North Dakota man has been charged in Minnesota with allegedly showing a handgun to another driver during a road rage fit over a political bumper sticker on her vehicle.

KFGO Radio reported that 27-year-old Joseph Schumacher, of Bismarck, N.D., was charged Wednesday with carrying weapons without a permit, the unlawful transportation of firearms and disorderly conduct.

Moorhead police say a woman reported she was driving Monday when Schumacher pulled up and began yelling about her sticker supporting Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren. Authorities say he pointed to his sticker supporting President Donald Trump and later flashed the gun.

Police tracked down Schumacher at a nearby restaurant. He was wearing a Trump 2020 cap. The complaint says he had two loaded guns in his vehicle.

Schumacher told police he was flirting with the woman and denied holding up a gun.

BEMIDJI, Minn. — A Red Lake man has pleaded guilty to fatally beating and strangling his wife and leaving her on the side of a road in northern Minnesota.

The U.S. attorney’s office says 39-year-old Jeremiah Kingbird entered the plea to second-degree murder in federal court in Bemidji on Tuesday. Authorities say Kingbird and his wife, who was not identified, were driving to their home in Ponemah last January after a night of drinking when they began to argue and got into a physical fight.

Prosecutors say Kingbird beat his wife in the head and strangled her before leaving her on a road in Redby. The victim was found hours later and died at the hospital in Red Lake.

Additional federal charges have been filed against a University of St. Thomas student for making what authorities called “hoax bomb threats” to the St. Paul school.

The U.S. Attorney’s office Thursday announced that a federal grand jury has formally indicted Ray Ghansham Persaud, charging the 20-year-old with three crimes for calling in repeated bomb threats to buildings at the university this past spring and summer.

Persaud was previously charged via federal criminal complaint with one count in the case.

His attorney, Fred Bruno, said his client was expecting the additional charges, adding that Persaud “has cooperated 100 percent with authorities and there is no reason for any further concern.”

Persaud is expected to be arraigned on the additional counts soon, but no date had been set as of Thursday. He is not in custody, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Persaud was arrested late last month after authorities say they traced a call he made to St. Thomas from his residence in Blaine.

His arrest came after the third-year undergraduate student called in bomb threats to the university on three separate occasions, April 17, Aug. 20, and Sept. 17, charges say.

The first targeted McNeely Hall, the second targeted the John Roach Center, a classroom building, and the third a handful of facilities, including the O’Shaughnessy Science Center, the John Roach Center, the Anderson Student Center and the Facilities and Design Center.

The university evacuated the entire campus after the first call, including a child care center. Only the targeted buildings were evacuated following the subsequent threats.

In each instance, authorities searched the facilities and found no bombs.

FBI investigators traced the first two calls to a “voice over Internet protocol,or VoIP,  which “allows users to have multiple telephone numbers,” authorities say.

But they were able to trace his third call to Persaud’s home address in Blaine, according to authorities.

His actions warranted federal charges because they involved use of the Internet and a telephone, which are considered “instruments of interstate commerce,” according to authorities.

While no motive was identified in the charging document, an investigator determined that Persaud had classes in buildings evacuated during all three instances, the affidavit said. Some classes had final exams when the John Roach Center was shut down Aug. 20.

Sullivan said Persaud has been banned from campus and suspended from school while the incident is investigated.

Persaud does not have a criminal record in Minnesota. No attorney was listed for him in court records.

If found responsible for the bomb threats, Sullivan said, Persaud will be expelled from St. Thomas.

An Eagan woman is accused of smashing windows and mirrors of an occupied car with a hatchet while wearing a “Joker” mask while yelling, “I’m your worst nightmare!”

The incident, which went down at the Eagan transit station off Pilot Knob and Yankee Doodle roads last week, led to a felony first-degree criminal damage to property charge against 19-year-old Tazara Larisha Oliver.

According to a criminal complaint filed this week in Dakota County District Court, a man reported to police that he and a woman were in his parked car on the second level of the transit station around 10 p.m. when someone wearing a black Joker mask approached and start swinging a hatchet — first breaking the passenger-side windows, then the outside mirrors and the windshield.

A man then approached the car and Oliver and told her to stop before they both ran downstairs and to the lower level.

The car owner and his passenger were “shaken up and stated they very scared,” the complaint read.

Oliver had the mask and hatchet with her when police officers found her and the man at the transit station, charges allege. He told officers that when he arrived at the transit station, he saw Oliver hitting the car with a hatchet and that he told her to stop and she needs to leave so she doesn’t get in trouble, charges said.

Oliver told police that she “did not remember much from the incident,” but did admit to being on top of the ramp, the complaint read.

Damage to the car was estimated in excess of $1,000.

Oliver was booked into Dakota County jail on Monday and later released on a $5,000 bond with several conditions, including no alcohol or controlled substances and no dangerous weapons. She is due back in court Oct. 30.

MAKINEN, Minn. — The Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled the death of a man in St. Louis County is a homicide.

The sheriff’s office has identified the victim as 47-year-old Frank Gerald Meyer. Deputies found his body was found Tuesday afternoon at a residence where they were asked to do a welfare check. Family and friends were concerned about Meyer after they hadn’t seen him in a few days.

Makinen is a small, rural community southeast of Eveleth.

St. Louis County Sheriff’s Lt. Nate Skelton said the suspicious death is unusual for the area in northeastern Minnesota.

There was no immediate word on the cause of death.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — The man accused of stabbing a fourth-grade teacher earlier this week told an Olmsted County District Court judge he wanted “to go for the maximum.”

David Daniel Galvan, 28, is charged with second-degree assault for allegedly stabbing a 24-year-old woman Tuesday in a seemingly random attack. Galvan made his first appearance on the charge on Thursday morning in Olmsted County District Court.

Galvan declined the service of a public defender and told Judge Christina Stevens that he wanted to go for the maximum and he “seen what I did to her.” Defense attorney Joachim Marjon expressed concern to the judge over Galvan’s ability to understand the court hearing. When Stevens asked Galvan if he understood why he was in court, he responded, “because I stabbed a white girl.”

A 24-year-old teacher suffered a stab wound in an attack Tuesday afternoon as she led a group of children from a park to a nearby school.

Stevens repeatedly interrupted Galvan during the hearing as he tried to either give details of the alleged crime or speak about wanting the “maximum.”

Stevens ordered a competency evaluation for Galvan. She set only unconditional bail at $100,000.

Rochester police were called around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday to the 600 block of Memorial Parkway Southwest for the report of an assault with a stabbing. An adult woman, whom police identified as a 24-year-old teacher from the Rochester Arts and Science Academy, had a small puncture wound near her shoulder blade that was bleeding slightly.

The woman positively identified Galvan as the man who stabbed her when shown a photo by police.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — A Rochester woman was arrested on five counts of attempted murder after police said she attempted to kill herself and her five children.

Rochester police first made contact with Farhiyo Mohamed Abdullahi, 32, and her family on Oct. 2. Abdullahi’s family called police over an incident the day before when she locked her five children in a car for a few hours, Rochester Police Lt. Mike Sadauskis said. Abdullahi’s family did not know the extent or severity of the incident. Police learned how serious it was about a week later after interviewing the five children.

In addition to calling police, the family called child protective services, Sadauskis said. The five children are 11, 10, 9, 7 and 4 years old.

Police visited Abdullahi’s residence in the 200 block of First Street Northeast around 7 p.m. on Oct. 2. Officers spoke with her. While she expressed that she was a little depressed, officers felt there was not enough cause to take her for a mental health evaluation, Sadauskis said.

Officers left Abdullahi’s apartment but were still in the building when a neighbor ran to tell them a fight was occurring in Abdullahi’s apartment. Officers returned and found the Abdullahi’s 24-year-old sister on top of her in an attempt to prevent being hit.

Abdullahi was arrested and taken to Mayo Clinic Hospital-Saint Marys for evaluation, Sadauskis said. For the fight with her sister, she was charged with misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct, domestic assault fear and domestic assault inflict bodily harm. Abdullahi was held at the hospital.

A day after the fight, social services contacted Rochester police over concerns that the car incident might have been potentially serious and requested that police not only take the children into protective custody but that they be interviewed to determine what had occurred.

Officers interviewed the children on Wednesday, Oct. 9, and learned that Abdullahi had put all of her children in a car that was parked in a closed garage and turned on the car. Sadauskis said the windows of the car were closed and a hose was running from the exhaust pipe to a window.

“Some of the kids knew potentially they could die,” Sadauskis said.

After about two hours, the oldest child reported that they vomited. At that point, Abdullahi opened the car doors, took the children out of the car and punched the eldest two times in the face, Sadauskis said.

Officers went to the hospital to interview Abdullahi. She allegedly admitted the incident occurred but minimized its seriousness. Evidence on scene corroborated the children’s account of the incident, Sadauskis said. Abdullahi was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after being released from the hospital.

Charges were not filed as of Thursday morning, but Abdullahi was listed in custody at the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center on five counts of first-degree premeditated murder. She is expected to be arraigned Friday morning.

ALEXANDRIA, Minn. — Charges were dismissed against two Montana men who drove through Douglas County on Interstate 94 with 900 pounds of marijuana in their camper last March.

On Tuesday, District Judge Timothy Churchwell ruled that a cracked windshield was sufficient reason for a state trooper to stop the vehicle, but that the trooper lacked reasonable grounds to expand the traffic stop into a search of the vehicle.

That made the seizure of the drugs unconstitutional, and without that evidence there was no probable cause to charge the two men — Alexander Clifford Gordon, 25, of Helena, and Jared Michael Desroches, 30, of Missoula.

The two were charged in Douglas County District Court with two counts of controlled substance crimes in the first degree for possession of more than 900 pounds of marijuana. The men were stopped nine miles west of Alexandria on I-94 on March 2.

A narcotics-detecting dog alerted the trooper to the presence of drugs inside a camper attached to their vehicle, according to court documents.

The State Patrol estimated the street value of the drugs at $4.25 million.

The young father wept as he described to a judge what it feels like to live with the death of his 4-year-old son, knowing he caused it.

“No one can hate me more than I hate myself. … I think about it every day,” Kristopher Taylor said. “Every time I breathe. Every time I wake up. … Yes, I think about him. … Yes, I dream about him.”

The 26-year-old spoke during his sentencing hearing Friday on one count of second-degree manslaughter in the death of his little boy, whom Taylor left inside a car for six hours parked in full sunlight outside CHS Field in May as he worked a shift for a vendor.

He picked the boy up that morning because his mother had to work, thinking he’d be able to find him alternative childcare.

When he couldn’t, he decided to bring him along for his work shift, cracking the window as he left the child inside his car with a game.

The temperature rose to above 70 degrees that day — May 4 — meaning the temperature in the car likely reached more than 100 degrees.

After discovering his child lifeless in the vehicle and rushing him to the hospital, Taylor fully cooperated with the authorities, his defense attorney, Edith Brown, told the court.

Medical staff pronounced the boy dead from probable hyperthermia.

Taylor even welcomed the notion of prison, Brown continued, adding that he wanted to do whatever he could to take responsibility for his actions.

But both sides agreed after Taylor entered a guilty plea that prison wasn’t appropriate for him. Taylor doesn’t have a criminal record.

With that in mind, it was known heading into Friday’s hearing that Taylor would receive a stayed sentence for his conviction and be placed on probation for 10 years.

The only question was whether he would be ordered to serve six months or a year in jail as well.

Ramsey County District Judge Robert Awsumb sentenced him to a year but said half of it could be served on electronic home monitoring.

Before rendering his decision, Awsumb noted the number of letters he received in support of Taylor, including one from the child’s mother.

“It’s obvious that you have always been a person that cares about others,” Awsumb told Taylor. “It’s ironic that what brings you here today is an act of neglect. … That’s not who you are.”

Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Kelly Meehan read the letter the boy’s mom submitted, which described how she met Taylor in 2012 and how he quickly became her “rock” through “hard times.”

The two started a relationship and went on to have their son, prompting Taylor to drop out of college so he could work to support them.

Eventually, the couple decided they were better co-parents than romantic partners, but Taylor remained a committed, involved and loving father through the transition, wrote Jalie LeeAnne Juers.

“I know from the bottom of my heart that they loved each other, and I always felt like I could trust him. He would help without question if I needed the help, and he always had our back,” Juers wrote. “Every bit of me knows what happened wasn’t intentional, and that the loss of our precious boy will hurt for eternity.”

It’s been her forgiveness and support that has allowed Taylor to go on, he told the court Friday. He added that he initially “begged her” and other friends and family to hate him, adding that none of them “saw what I saw when I found my son.”

“I miss my son,” he added, his voice cracking as he started weeping. “I miss him a lot.”

Taylor went on to say that he believed his actions warranted a punishment, a sentiment in line with what Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Karen Kugler said when she addressed the judge, reminding the court that while the boy’s death was a tragic accident, it also was preventable.

“(The boy) stood no chance of surviving that situation,” Kugler said. “Mr. Taylor never checked on him … even as the sun was out and the temperature was rising.”

That’s why she asked Awsumb to sentence him to a full year in jail, to recognize the severity of what happened due to his actions.

Brown had asked the judge to give Taylor six months, arguing the purposes of criminal sentences — punishment, retribution, rehabilitation and deterrence — would not be met by more days in jail.

Still, she said after the hearing that she appreciated Awsumb’s decision, which allows Taylor to serve half of the time from home, where he can still access mental health and grief counseling.

Awsumb also granted Brown’s request to stay the imposition of Taylor’s conviction, meaning the felony will become a misdemeanor if he completes his 10-year probation period.

That means the once aspiring attorney might still have a shot at the career, Brown said.

He’ll begin serving his jail time later this month.

The boy’s mother wrote that she intends to stay connected to Taylor.

“He showed me how to love myself when I was self-destructive, he showed me what forgiveness looked like when my mental disorders took over,” she wrote. “That takes a lot of love, effort, and courage to help fix a broken person and he did that. I intend to be able to do it all in return.”

As employees arrived to a St. Paul McDonald’s early one morning, an armed man was watching, police said Friday in describing the serial robber.

He made a manager get back in her vehicle as he threatened to shoot her. After four workers arrived to the fast food restaurant, the robber told the manager to go to the door and they let her in. Then, the man followed and demanded everyone lay on the floor.

He stole money from the McDonald’s at Jefferson Avenue and West Seventh Street and from some of the employees. He told them all to look the other way as he left.

Police said the man is a suspect in five other similar St. Paul robberies since August, including one on Friday. They’ve happened at businesses around the West Seventh neighborhood, in the area of Snelling and Grand avenues, and on University Avenue:

He’s accosted workers early in the morning, when stores are opening, brandished a handgun and demanded to be taken to the safe, said Steve Linders, a police spokesman.

The police department asked for the public’s help Friday to identify the suspect to “put an end to these robberies,” Linders said.

“Not only are they incredibly scary for the employees, they’re dangerous situations,” Linders continued. “We want hardworking people to be able to show up for their jobs without having to look over their shoulders and worry about being robbed at gunpoint.”

The robberies happened at:

• Speedway at Snelling and Portland avenues, Aug. 12 about 5:40 a.m.
• Caribou Coffee at Snelling and Grand avenues, Sept. 12 about 5 a.m.
• Wendy’s at University Avenue and Wheeler Street, Sept. 19 about 10 a.m.
• Shuang Hur Supermarket at University Avenue and Dale Street, Sept. 23 about 7:40 a.m.
• McDonald’s at Jefferson Avenue and West Seventh Street, Sept. 27 about 5 a.m.
• Speedway at West Seventh Street and Armstrong Avenue, Friday about 4:50 a.m.

The police department released video and photos of the suspect from surveillance footage and described him as a black man who is about 6 feet tall and has a stocky build. He’s worn shorts — they’ve been blue, red and black — over his pants and black tennis shoes. He’s carried a black Nike duffle bag, and a white and red umbrella. After robberies, he’s walked away or left on a bicycle.

Police asked anyone with information to call them at 651-266-5650.

A Minneapolis man forced a 14-year-old girl who had runaway from home into sex trafficking, threatening to kill her if she didn’t comply, charges say.

St. Paul police officers made contact with the girl last Tuesday, after she reported to staff at United Hospital what happened to her.

She told police that her previous “pimp” essentially sold her to Ricardo Antonio Miranda earlier this month. Miranda used the photos he already posted of her online to advertise the young teen for sex, according to the criminal complaint filed Friday in Ramsey County District Court.

Then he took her to a Motel 6 on Old Hudson Road and forced her to have commercial sex with around 10 individuals a night, charging between $160 and $260 depending on the time they spent, the girl told police.

If she refused to cooperate, Miranda threatened to kill her, the complaint said.

Miranda and the girl stayed in the hotel about four nights.

Miranda raped her twice, charges say. The girl eventually contacted her brother, the complaint said. The brother took her to United Hospital.

Officers saw injuries on the girl’s eye and mouth when they interviewed her. She said some were caused by Miranda burning her with a methamphetamine pipe and hitting her with a bag of tent poles. Another was caused by a “john” hitting her with a brick, the complaint said.

Police found two cell phones on Miranda when they arrested him. He declined to make a statement to officers.

He was charged Friday with engaging in the sex trafficking of a minor as well as receiving profits from the prostitution of someone under 18.

He made his first court appearance on the allegations Friday afternoon. His next hearing is scheduled for Oct. 25.

His criminal record includes past convictions for manslaughter, second- and fifth-degree assault, theft and disorderly conduct.

A Woodbury man accused of repeatedly kicking and punching his girlfriend’s dog because he was jealous of the animal has been arrested and charged with felony animal cruelty.

Nicholas D. Schmidt, 24, of Woodbury was arrested Thursday by Woodbury police. He had his first appearance in Washington County District Court in Stillwater on Friday.

Schmidt has been charged with three counts of mistreating animals-torture. According to the criminal complaint, Schmidt repeatedly abused Ziggy, a 3-year-old Labrador mix, over the course of the past two months.

Ziggy’s owner called Woodbury police on Oct. 2 from an Oakdale clinic after the veterinarian told her Ziggy was suffering from “serious injuries consistent with abuse,” the complaint states. The injuries included bruising and abrasions on his chest; abrasions and puncture wounds on his front legs; lacerations on his lip and tongue; a puncture on his left chin and fractured teeth.

The woman told police she had been dating Schmidt for three months, and that he had lived with her in her apartment in Woodbury for most of the time.

“Schmidt has expressed his jealousy toward Ziggy for most of the relationship, and the (two) would often fight about how much time she spends with Ziggy,” the complaint states.

Schmidt allegedly called the woman Sept. 4 and told her that when he got home, he found “Ziggy stuck under a stand that holds a fish tank,” the complaint states. “Ziggy’s head had been pushed through a metal hole in the stand. … Ziggy was bleeding from his nose and his leg was in extreme pain when his back was touched.”

Schmidt took photos of Ziggy and sent them to the woman, the complaint states. “Schmidt told (her) that he believed someone broke into the apartment and did this to Ziggy.”

Nine days later, she took Ziggy back to the vet because the animal was urinating blood and his injuries were not healing. The vet discovered a bruise that spanned Ziggy’s lower back and abdomen, a chipped tooth and more recent injuries to his ears, according to the complaint, and said the new and old injuries were “consistent with abuse.”

Schmidt called his then-girlfriend at work Oct. 1 and told her Ziggy was injured again and then sent a video showing “Ziggy lying on the floor in a pool of blood and in obvious pain,” the complaint states. When she got home, she found Ziggy lying in the blood at the foot of her bed and Schmidt asleep in the bed. She was again told the injuries were consistent with abuse.

She then called Schmidt and told him the relationship was over, and he needed to leave her apartment. When she got home, Schmidt was gone.

Ziggy’s vet bills total almost $10,000, Woodbury Police Cmdr. John Altman said. The dog is now recuperating at home.

“It is horrible that the dog had to go through such an ordeal,” Altman said. “Pets are members of the family. The dog’s owner trusted her boyfriend to be caring and loving as she is, but unfortunately, she was deceived.”

Schmidt’s bail has been set at $150,000 without conditions, or $100,000 with them. He’s also under court order not to contact the woman.

His next court hearing in scheduled for Nov. 18.

A woman is charged in federal court with picking up an 11-year-old girl in South St. Paul, driving to her South Carolina residence and sexually assaulting her.

Katrina Marie Aliff, 23, was arrested last month on charges of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and an indictment by a federal grand jury was filed this week.

Aliff met the girl on the app Amino in March, and they eventually transitioned to texting and messaging through another app, Discord, according to an FBI affidavit. By late April and early May, they “expressed their feelings for each another and began a more intimate relationship,” the affidavit continued.

The girl’s father discovered their messages on Sept. 2, which prompted him to destroy her phone. She continued to communicate with Aliff using a tablet.

“Aliff began planning and communicating with (the girl) her intention to” drive to Minnesota to pick her up and bring her back to Greenville, S.C., according to the affidavit. They selected a gas station near the girl’s home where they would meet about 1:30 a.m., but the girl didn’t arrive at the arranged time on Sept. 7.

As Aliff walked in the girl’s neighborhood, she spotted her heading down the road with her belongings, and helped her get them into her vehicle, according to the affidavit. Shortly after they got on the road, Aliff tried to destroy her cell phone — she put it in coffee — to prevent law enforcement from tracking it.

They arrived at Aliff’s apartment in South Carolina on Sept. 8 and Aliff introduced the girl as a friend to her roommate. When the roommate left, they drank beer and Aliff engaged in sexual activity with the girl, according to the affidavit.

South Carolina law enforcement was notified of the kidnapping on Sept. 8 and found the girl in Aliff’s apartment that afternoon.

A judge ordered last month for Aliff to undergo a mental evaluation.

This story contains information from the Associated Press.