Two men pleaded guilty earlier this month to robbing two University of Minnesota students at gunpoint over the summer, according to a press release issued Monday by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.
Lavellle Grayson and Javonta Williams admitted on Dec. 12 to robbing the students in July.
Grayson was sentenced on the same day to four years in prison for aggravated robbery, the press release said, and Williams is expected serve three years in prison. His sentencing date is set for Jan. 16.
The two students, a man and a woman, were walking near the West Bank end of the Washington Avenue Bridge early in the morning on July 30 when the two men approached them, according to complaints. One of the men pointed a semi-automatic gun at the studnets and the other told them to “put your face in the grass and give us everything you’ve got,” the complaints said.
The men took a cellphone, credit cards and ID cards from the victims, according to the charges.
Later that day, a backpack was turned over to police with a gun and the woman’s ID cards inside, the complaint said. The man’s stolen credit card was used at three Minneapolis light rail stations and more than $400 in attempted charges were reported by his credit card company, the complaints said.
Timestamps on the credit card transactions, along with nearby University and Metro Transit footage, helped officials identify the two men, the complaints said.