http://www.startribune.com/local/901153 ... page=1&c=y
A teenager who was charged in an armed campus robbery near the site where a University of Minnesota student was shot in January has pleaded guilty in the robbery and to another elsewhere in Minneapolis, but will not serve prison time.
Derrell Jacori Cole, who turned 17 on Wednesday, pleaded guilty last week to two counts of first-degree aggravated robbery stemming from separate Jan. 25 robberies, one of them in north Minneapolis and the second on the U of M campus later that night. He was sentenced to two years in prison for the first incident and four years for the second.
Cole and a 21-year-old man, both of Minneapolis, were arrested in February, about two weeks after a pair of robberies that police believe ended with the wounding of sophomore Timothy Schumacher, 19, who has recovered and since returned to class. However, police could not definitively link either suspect to the shooting and neither was charged with that crime. The 21-year-old was subsequently released without charges.
The sentence will be stayed until Cole's 21st birthday as long as he complies with the terms of his probation, which includes an undetermined stay at Woodland Hills Residential Treatment Center in Duluth, a program for juvenile offenders, and restitution.
Cole and another suspect are accused of robbing two female students near Moos Tower on Jan. 25, stealing their cell phones and backpacks, before fleeing toward several large residence halls. Moments later, Schumacher was shot without provocation in front of Centennial Hall, authorities said.
Before the campus robbery, a woman was robbed just off campus in the 500 block of Huron Blvd. SE, and police believe those incidents were connected.
Police used a signal from one of the stolen cell phones to track the suspects. A search turned up one of the cell phones but no firearm.
Authorities were only able to charge Cole with the robbery of the female students.
Deputy University of Minnesota police chief Chuck Miner said the case is still active, and the department is still in discussions with the Hennepin County Attorney about possible additional charges against both Cole and the 21-year-old.
Another incident occurred this week near the campus. At 9:30 p.m. Monday a U student was jogging at Sixth Street and 11th Avenue SE in Dinkytown, when a man demanded his belongings then stabbed him in the torso, police said. The student is recovering. Police are still seeking that suspect, described as a white man in his late 30s, approximately 5-foot-9 with a graying beard. He was wearing a green jacket with white on the side, possibly a white hooded sweatshirt underneath and black jeans.
