HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 01-08 Woman arrested in violent Maplewood home invasion PIONEER PRESS 1/8/2016 Woman arrested in violent Maplewood home invasion-TwinCities.com
Womian larreSited m violent Maplewood
home invasion
• •
By Tad Veztier
tvezner@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 01/08/2016 06:26:51 AM CST I UPDATED: ABOUT 4 HOURS AGO
Police have arrested the person they suspect served as the leader during a
violent home invasion at a Maplewood retirement complex last week -- and �¢
used her reported confession to add charges against another suspect.
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A third suspect -- whom police had originally encountered while arresting
one of the others - remained at large Thursday evening.
honice ILacyra Harmon was
Shonice Lacyra Harmon, 23, of Minneapolis was arrested on suspicion of arrested on suspicion of aggravated
aggravated robbery and booked into the Ramsey County Jail late robbery Wednesday,Jan.6.(Photo
courtesy of the IRarnsey County
Wednesday. Sheriffs Office)
On Saturday, a 75-year-old resident of Maplewood's Carefree Cottages was "' "' "'
confronted at her door by a woman holding a handgun.
Jan 6:
Police suspect that woman was Harmon. Man used credit cards
stolen during Maplewood
The woman forced her way inside and called two male accomplices, one of home invasion,charge
whom choked the resident until she passed out. The resident awoke to find says
credit cards and jewelry missing. Jan 5:
• 1 suspect held in violent
Police released surveillance footage from a gas station where a stolen credit Maplewood senior home
card was used, and tips from the public led to the arrest of Deandre Wims, invasion
25, of North St. Paul during a traffic stop earlier this week. Jan 4:
• Maplewood senior housing
Wims was charged Wednesday with credit card fraud, and further charges resident bound,choked in
home invasion
of kidnapping, burglary and aggravated robbery were added Thursday.
According to a criminal complaint, Harmon identified Wims as one of the
two men who entered the victim's home and said Wims gave her the gun.
Harmon told investigators that Wims choked the victim first with an article of clothing, then used his arm
when the clothing did not work.
ddvei I u eiq iieii q t: After the victim lost consciousness, Harmon said the
second man -- identified in the complaint as Kenwone
Darrion Pruitt, Wims' half-brother -- dropped the
woman, whose head then struck a table.
r "She (Harmon) said that she left the room because she
1/8/2016 Woman arrested in violent Maplewood home invasion-TwinCities.com
was bothered by the victim's choking sounds as she
struggled to breathe," the complaint noted.
The complaint stated that both Harmon and Pruitt were
in the car when Wims was first arrested, but they were
released.
Maplewood Police Chief Paul Schnell said his
department did not have good enough surveillance
footage of Pruitt at that time, or any evidence to hold him
on.
"We just didn't have solid information that he was the
one in that picture," Schnell said.
Harmon was driving the vehicle and was also let go for lack of evidence -- but was arrested without incident
Wednesday evening during a traffic stop in Minneapolis. Schnell said tips from the public led investigators
to her.
Police continue to search for Pruitt, described as a heavy-set African-American man in his 2os, 5 feet 6 to 6
feet tall with short hair, wearing dark clothing and no hat.
Police believe the suspects may also have been involved in a previous robbery at the retirement community
Dec. 2'7. Nobody was home at the time of that robbery, in which credit cards and jewelry were also stolen.
Tad Vezner can be reached at 651-228-5461 or follow him on Twitter @SPnoir.
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