In Roseville Crime, This Armed Robbery Suspect Left Behind Pie Crust, Strawberries

The Ramsey County Attorney's Office on Friday ( July 12) charged a 42-year-old St. Paul man with robbing and kidnapping two shoppers last month in the parking lot of the Roseville Cub Foods supermarket at HarMar Mall. 

Charged with one count of first-degree aggravated robbery and two counts of kidnapping was Jason Lamont Armstrong. 

Armstrong's charges come in the wake of a four-week investigation by Roseville Police after an East Metro couple said they were stopped and robbed at gunpoint on the night of June 14 in the parking lot of the Cub Foods store, 2100 N. Snelling Ave.  

In a press statement, Roseville police outlined details on how the crime unfolded: 

"As the (East Metro) couple finished loading their groceries into their car, an unknown male approached and entered the back seat of their vehicle, produced a pistol and put it to the head of the female passenger. 

The suspect told the male to drive and not to panic. The suspect ordered the male to drive to a nearby automatic teller machine and withdraw cash.
When the suspect was told they didn’t have an ATM card, the suspect ordered they use their credit cards to obtain cash advances. The couple said neither had access to their credit card personal identification numbers and were unable to acquire any cash advances.

The suspect ordered the male victim to provide him with his wallet. The male victim obliged and gave the suspect his wallet containing his driver’s license, credit cards, insurance card and $250 cash.

The suspect then ordered the victim to drive to the Snelling/Thomas Avenue neighborhood in St. Paul. 

Suspect asked to take the couple's groceries 

Once in the neighborhood, the suspect asked the couple if he could take their groceries. The victims agreed but asked if he would leave behind the pie crust and strawberries so they could make a pie for Father’s Day.
The suspect took all of the groceries but left behind the strawberries and pie crust and fled on foot into the neighborhood.

When interviewed by a Roseville Police detective, the victims provided a detailed description of the suspect and his clothing."

Armed with a description of the suspect, the detective was able to obtain video surveillance imaging of the suspect appearing to pose as a Cub Food shopping cart/parking lot attendant wearing a florescent green traffic vest, Roseville police said. 

The police detective learned the victim’s credit cards were fraudulently used shortly after the robbery/kidnapping at a Snelling and Thomas neighborhood gas station to purchase fuel for two different vehicles.

The loss prevention supervisor for the gas station told the Roseville detective he had recently provided video imaging of the same vehicles to a St. Paul Police Department detective in connection with the fraudulent use of a credit card on  June 7.

The Roseville detective contacted the St. Paul Police Department and learned the credit card used at the gas station on June 7 was taken in a St. Paul burglary and there were no suspects.

Roseville detective acted on a hunch

Acting on a hunch, the Roseville detective contacted Metro Transit Police and requested all bus surveillance video of buses that arrived in Roseville on June 14 between 6 and 10 p.m.

After reviewing nearly six hours of transit bus videos, the detective recognized the suspect entering a bus (Route 84) at Snelling Avenue and Englewood Avenue at 8:38 p.m. and asked the driver if the bus went to “Har Mar?”

The detective immediately recognized the suspect because of the shirt he was wearing at the time of the robbery was the same shirt he wore entering the bus.

The video tape shows the suspect exiting the bus at 8:45 p.m. at Har Mar Cross over approximately 90 minutes before the robbery and kidnapping incident at Cub Food.

The Roseville detective compiled the robbery and metro transit images of the suspect and disseminated it to metropolitan law enforcement agencies in the hope an officer would recognize and identify the suspect.

The same St. Paul Police detective who provided the Roseville detective with information on the fraudulent use of the credit card(s) at the gas station on June 7, called and identified the Cub Food robbery/ kidnapping suspect as Armstrong.

 On July 4, the Roseville detective executed a search warrant at Armstrong's  St. Paul apartment and recovered the shirt and traffic vest he allegedly wore at the time of the Cub Food robbery and kidnapping.

With Armstrong already in custody at the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center on an unrelated St. Paul Police burglary charge, the Roseville detective formally interviewed him on July 7. 

Based on Roseville’s investigation, the St. Paul Police Department believes Armstrong may be connected with the Kowalski’s robberies of June 8 and 16, Roseville police said.

If convicted on the robbery charge, Armstrong faces a maximum sentence of 20 years or $35,000 fine or both. If convicted on the kidnapping counts, Armstrong's maximum sentence would be a maximum 20 years imprisonment or a $35,000 fine or both. 

As of Friday, Armstrong was in custody on $100,000 bail at the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center, Roseville police said. 

Roseville Police said it's not known when Armstrong will make his first court appearance on the robbery and kidnapping charges.

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