3 Arrested in Burnsville After 'Baby Daddy' Altercation

Three St. Louis Park men have been charged with assaulting a man in Burnsville and stealing his phone charger, a credit card and two gold dollar coins in an altercation over a woman’s “baby daddy.”

Westley Ryan Jacobson, 22; Marcus Henry Middleton, 27; and Gregory Shane Jacobson, 21, are all charged with felony robbery, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine, and fifth-degree assault, a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Westley Jacobson is also charged with a misdemeanor count of receiving stolen property and petty misdemeanor counts of marijuana possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to the criminal complaints, Burnsville police were called Nov. 14 to a report of a fight on Irving Avenue in which a group of people were assaulting a man in a parking lot.

As the call came in, a Burnsville officer on patrol in the area saw a car occupied by several people drive past. Because it was the only vehicle in the area at the time, the officer thought it might be the suspect vehicle, and the car was stopped.

As the officer spoke to the driver, the three passengers – Westley Jacobson, Gregory Jacobson and Middleton – “appeared to be very nervous,” according to the complaints, and kept reaching into their pockets even after being told to keep their hands in plain view.

Westley Jacobson told police that he had marijuana and a marijuana pipe in his pocket, and that he wanted to tell the truth about what happened, the complaint says. He said he and the others had gotten into a “verbal altercation” with a man.

The victim told another officer that he had arrived at the scene to talk to his girlfriend. As they sat in her car talking, another car – the one in which Westley Jacobson, Gregory Jacobson and Middleton were riding – pulled up behind them.

Three men approached the car in which the victim was sitting and tried to get in. He told police that he locked the doors, but thought his girlfriend had unlocked them at some point.

The men pulled the victim out of the car and began punching, choking and kicking him, according to the complaint. The suspects also took his phone charger, an identification card, two gold dollar coins and a credit card from his pockets.

The victim subsequently identified Westley Jacobson, Gregory Jacobson and Middleton as the men who assaulted him. Police found the victim’s credit card in Westley Jacobson’s pants pocket; Gregory Jacobson would not talk to police and was “extremely uncooperative and intoxicated,” police said.

Middleton told police that the victim’s girlfriend was upset with her “baby daddy” and had called several people to come and “speak with him.” Middleton initially told police that he got out of the car to try to break up the fight; he later admitted “smacking” the victim in the head several times, but claimed that Gregory Jacobson initiated the assault.

The victim’s girlfriend denied being involved in any plan to assault the victim, telling police that she was pregnant with his child “and would never want to put the victim in harm’s way,” according to the complaint.