A Minneapolis man was charged Thursday with one of four recent robberies in St. Paul in which the victims sought to buy iPhones via Craigslist ads.
Gabriel R. Kimbrough, 18, is accused of robbing an Edina man at gunpoint after the alleged victim placed an ad on Craigslist expressing an interest in buying a phone.
Authorities say the Edina man got a call Aug. 4 from someone purporting to be a seller. The seller asked the Edina man to go to the Dayton's Bluff area on St. Paul's East Side. There, Kimbrough robbed him, the charges said.
Last Friday, about a week later, a Hamline University student was fatally shot in the same neighborhood while responding to a Craigslist ad offering an iPhone for sale. The alleged gunman, Steven E. Lewis, 26, of Maplewood, was charged Monday with second-degree murder in that case. Lewis was arrested after going to a residence in the 700 block of Plum Street, St. Paul.
Police also caught up with Kimbrough at the same residence, according to the Ramsey County District Court complaint filed Thursday. The charges say Kimbrough had been with another man shortly before he robbed the victim. That second man was not identified in the complaint.
Kimbrough is accused of stealing $250 and a Samsung cellphone from the Edina man. Earlier this week, Kimbrough also was charged with a June 27 robbery of two men in the city's Frogtown area.
ANTHONY LONETREE
