In May 2019, two men burst into Joyeria Ecuador, a jewelry store on East Lake Street in Minneapolis, pistol-whipped the shop owner and made off with between $50,000 and $60,000 in merchandise.
Minneapolis man charged in brazen East Lake jewelry store robbery
Another man pleaded guilty last November.
January 5, 2021 at 10:35PM
One man pleaded guilty late last year for his part in the brazen robbery, and a second, Corey Roscell Chester, 29, of Minneapolis, was charged in Minnesota's U.S. District Court last week for interference with interstate commerce.
According to an affidavit underlying the charges, the robbery took about a minute. One man pinned the owner against the wall while another hit him with a small silver pistol, then smashed the display case and grabbed an armful of jewelry.
Witnesses saw four hooded men running down Lake Street, away from the jewelry shop, and trying to jump into a Chevy Tahoe. The truck was locked, so the four men split up in different directions, and a witness later saw a man carrying a weed whacker return to the vehicle and drive away.
Last November, Demilo Demontez Martin is also charged with the robbery, and investigators for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives say he's the one who pistol-whipped the store owner. Martin also admitted to stealing a weed whacker and posing as a gardener to stealthily return to the truck, according to court documents.
Chester was the man who pinned the owner against the wall during the robbery, according to the ATF. He's set to appear in court for a detention hearing on Tuesday.
Andy Mannix • 612-673-4036
Correction: Previous versions of this story incorrectly reported that Demilo Demontez Martin pleaded guilty to robbery.
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