Warrants Issued for Three Men in 2008 Inver Grove Heights Drugstore Robbery

Nationwide arrest warrants have been issued for three men accused of robbing an Inver Grove Heights drugstore in 2008 at gunpoint.

The three suspects are Semaji Jamal Clemons, 21, of Inver Grove Heights, who is currently serving a four-year sentence at the Minnesota correctional facility in Moose Lake for aggravated first-degree robbery; Clemons’ brother, Larry Morgan Jr., 19, of Inver Grove Heights; and Pierre Davonne Ramsey, 19, of Maplewood.

A DNA analysis of hats and gloves that the three men left behind led authorities to their identities, according to the criminal complaint.

Inver Grove Heights police were called to Snyder Drug Store on Cahill Avenue just after 6 p.m. on Sept. 27, 2008, after a report of an armed robbery, according to the complaint.

A store employee said three black men wearing hoodies had entered the store and began to walk around. She said two of the men walked in one direction, and the third approached her and asked what medication he should use for a cold.

While she was showing the man the available medications, he grabbed her arm and shoved a gun against her stomach, demanding to know where the store safe was, the complaint says. She walked him to the back room where the safe was located, and he told her to stay there and took her cell phone away, according to the complaint.

The employee described the man as about 6-foot-3, between 150 and 160 pounds, with a goatee.

A second employee said he had been removing old signs when he saw the three men “wandering around the store.” He said he saw one man drag the first employee to the back of the store, and as he began to run to the back room to help her, the other two men approached him from behind.

The two told the employee to come with them, just as the first suspect emerged from the back room and pointed his gun at the employee, according to the complaint.

The armed suspect told one of the other men to take the second employee to the back room, and ordered the employee to open the safe, the complaint says. The armed suspect took all the cash out of the safe, and the three men removed all the bills out of the store’s cash registers, the employee told police.

The armed suspect forced the male employee to rip the telephone cord from the wall and took his cell phone, then the three men fled the store, according to the complaint.

The employees told police that all three men were wearing gloves.

Police searching the area after the robbery found a black knitted hat with three gloves inside it and another glove on the ground near the store. They found another knitted hat and another pair of gloves in the vicinity. Both hats had eye holes cut into them, the complaint says.

Authorities took DNA samples from the hats and gloves, but found no matches in 2008. Earlier this year, were notified that additional DNA samples from other agencies had been added to the state database, so another comparison was made and authorities were able to identify the suspects from the DNA profiles.

Police went to Moose Lake to interview Clemons, who confirmed that Morgan was his brother and that his sister lived in Inver Grove Heights. However, he wouldn’t answer questions about the 2008 robbery.

Police learned that Morgan was in custody in Ramsey County, charged with fleeing a police officer in March 2011, but when he got to the jail, Morgan had already been released. Morgan’s probation officer told police that Morgan “sometimes” showed up for his meetings, and sometimes didn’t.

It took the officer three visits to the probation officer to find Morgan, according to the complaint. When the officer asked Morgan about the robbery, Morgan said he didn’t know anything about it and he wasn’t there. Morgan’s whereabouts are currently unknown.

Ramsey was on probation in Ramsey County when police searched for him, but he had violated his probation and had outstanding arrest warrants, according to the complaint. His whereabouts are also unknown.