2 Arrested for Robbery Outside Burnsville Hotel

Two Minneapolis men are charged with robbing a man this week outside a Burnsville hotel after asking him if they could use his cell phone.

Jeff Tyson, 26, and Emanuel Mohamed Robertson, 26, are charged with felony robbery, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

Tyson is free on bond, and Robertson remained in the Dakota County Jail Thursday on a $2,500 bond. Both men have omnibus hearings scheduled Nov. 14 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.

According to the criminal complaints, Burnsville police were called to the Days Inn just after 10:30 p.m. Monday and spoke to the victim, who said he was staying at the hotel while he was in the area on business.

The victim said he went outside to smoke when two men drove up beside him in a car. One of the men asked him for directions, then asked if the victim had a cell phone he could use.

After the man used the cell phone, the victim said he suddenly pushed him to the ground, jumped on top of him and took his cash out of his front left pants pocket.

The victim said he tried to get up, but the suspect pushed him back down. At the same time, he said, the other man, still in the car, moved into the driver’s seat, his assailant jumped into the back seat and the two men fled.

The victim said he heard one of the men tell the other to “get the pistol” while he was being assaulted.

He provided police with detailed descriptions of the suspects and their car. The two were apprehended a short time later, and the victim identified Robertson as the man who assaulted him and Tyson as the one who drove the car from the scene.

Robertson told police that he and Tyson were going to a woman’s house when they got lost in Burnsville. He denied stopping the car to speak to anyone.

Tyson initially told police that he was not at the Burnsville Days Inn on Monday. When police told him that the victim had positively identified him, Tyson admitted that Robertson stopped at the Days Inn and met a man, with whom he was “talking about weed.”

Tyson said he got scared when Robertson and the victim began fighting, so he jumped into the driver’s seat. He said he subsequently switched seats with Robertson because Tyson didn’t have a Minnesota driver’s license.