Accused Robber of IGH Drugstore Pleads Not Guilty, June Trial Set

A 20-year-old Maplewood man accused of pleaded not guilty in a Dakota County court Apr. 17. 

Despite Pierre Davonne Ramsey's plea, Judge Jerome B. Abrams found sufficient probable cause—including DNA evidence—to bring the case to trial. 

Officially charged with first-degree aggravated robbery, if convicted Ramsey is facing a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $35,000 fine.

Ramsey's jury trial is scheduled to begin on June 11 at 8:30 a.m.

According to a September 2011 warrant complaint, a store employee said a black man approximately 6-foot-3 and 150-60 pounds grabbed her arm and shoved a gun against her stomach, demanding to know where the store safe was.

The complaint says two more men subdued a second store employee and forced him to open the safe and tear out the store's phone cords. 

Responding officers searched the area after the robbery and found two black knitted hats and three pairs of gloves near the store, the complaint says.

DNA tests in 2008 yielded no matches until additional evidence was submitted in 2011. The resulting DNA evidence matched to Ramsey and two other suspects in the case: 

• Semaji Jamal Clemons, 21, of Inver Grove Heights 
• Larry Morgan Jr., 19, of Inver Grove Heights 

Clemons was sentenced to 58 months at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in St. Cloud in March. It is not clear what happened to Larry Morgan, Jr.