Jury convicts participant in armed robbery spree targeting Twin Cities auto parts stores

Some employees were bound with zip ties during the holdups, authorities said.

February 4, 2019 at 11:29PM
Tony L. Reed
Tony L. Reed (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Jurors have convicted a 32-year-old man of being one of four criminals who went on a robbery spree targeting auto parts stores around the Twin Cities area, holding up the retailers at gunpoint and bounding employees with zip ties.

The other three defendants didn't take their chance with jurors and chose instead to plead guilty.

Tony L. Reed, of Memphis, Tenn. was found guilty Friday in federal court in Minneapolis of six counts of robbery in connection with the increasingly frequent holdups pulled off within about five months in 2017.

The largest sum noted in the criminal complaint against Reed was $3,760 taken during the robbery of an O'Reilly Auto Parts at 4905 West Broadway in Minneapolis.

Federal prosecutors say four other O'Reilly outlets also were targeted: two on E. Lake Street in Minneapolis, another on Central Avenue in Columbia Heights and one on County Road E in White Bear Lake. Also attributed to the bandits were robberies of a NAPA auto parts on E. Lake Street in Minneapolis, an AutoZone on Rice Street in Roseville and a Family Dollar Store on Bloomington Avenue in Minneapolis.

The three defendants who confessed in court to at least one or two of the robberies are Derf R. Reed, 46, of Chicago; Tyrell D. Campbell, 23, of Minneapolis; and Orlando L. Harris, of Minneapolis.

A pattern of behavior was established on June 12 in the first robbery, when one of three men pointed a gun at the head of an O'Reilly Auto Parts employee at 710 E. Lake Street and zip ties were used to bound store employees.

Sentencings for the four have yet to be scheduled.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482

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Paul Walsh

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Paul Walsh is a general assignment reporter at the Minnesota Star Tribune. He wants your news tips, especially in and near Minnesota.

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