An Ellendale man and others in his car beat a passenger at an Owatonna park Oct. 19 and took about $300 in cash from him, according to the complaint.
Lavon Latrell Jewison, 18, is charged in Steele County District Court with aiding and abetting first-degree aggravated robbery, a felony. The complaint was filed Nov. 2. He was summoned to appear in court.
According to the complaint, Owatonna police were called to Brown Park for a report of five or six kids fighting. A man walking his dog nearby told police he saw four or five kids jumping in and out of a black car, opening all the doors and yelling at someone inside to get out as they tried to drag him from the car. When the man walked up and asked if everything was OK, the group turned toward him. That gave the person inside a chance to get out. The others tried to grab him but he got away from the car.
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The witness said the group chased the victim down near the entrance to the park’s parking lot. One of them tackled him to the ground and the others joined in beating him. At one point one of the group took a wrench from the back of the car but put it away when the witness told him to.
An officer found the victim about a block away, crying and upset. He told the officer the group had jumped him and robbed him of his money. He said Jewison was driving and that he was riding in the back seat. He said the group had picked him up about 45 minutes earlier and driven around before going to the park to play basketball. When they got there, he said, Jewison and the three others began hitting and kicking him inside the car, then opened his door and kept attacking him.
The victim said he had about $300 in cash in his front left pocket that was taken during the attack. He was not sure who took it. The group knew he had the cash because they had planned to go to a party later, according to the complaint.
The officer saw blood on his sweatshirt and pants, a hole in his left sleeve, a scratch about 2 inches long under his right eye, a raised bump above that eye and both lips busted and bleeding. He said he had no injuries before the attack.
Jewison was identified as the driver and registered owner of the car, the complaint says.
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