5 men charged in connection with Tuesday ATM theft, standoff with police
Five men have been charged in connection with an ATM theft and ensuing standoff that happened earlier this week in Roseville.
Kenneth Deandtray Brown, 23, of Houston, Texas was charged with two counts of theft of a property worth more than $5,000, one count of first-degree damage to property causing more than $1,000 in damage, and one count of fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle.
Four of the men were charged with one count of theft in excess of $5,000 and one count of first-degree damage to property. Those charges were filed against:
- Dekorius Durham, 22, of St. Paul
- Larry Dean Gill, 23, of Houston, Texas
- Leonard Dwyane Williams, 25, of Houston, Texas
- Christopher Eugine Merchant, 23, of Houston, Texas
RELATED: Roseville police arrest 5 following ATM theft, standoff
According to a criminal complaint, officers from the Roseville Police Department were called to Great Southern Bank at 1875 County Road B2 on Tuesday, Dec. 12 around 4 a.m. for a report of alarms going off.
Whey they arrived, officers saw a white truck dragging chains leaving the bank, in addition to a damaged ATM machine lying in the bank’s parking lot, the complaint added.
The truck drove onto County Road B2 as officers tried to pull the vehicle over. Officials say the truck did not stop and began weaving before driving over a median and a large rock. The driver then bailed out of the truck as it continued to move.
The truck then crashed into a car and a yellow bus parked nearby. All three vehicles sustained heavy damage, the complaint said.
The driver of the truck — identified in the complaint as Brown — tried to run away but was arrested.
Brown told officers he was visiting from Texas and got in the “abandoned” truck because he needed a place to sleep. The complaint states Brown said he fled police because he was scared.
Law enforcement searched the area and found a hotel key card and Brown’s cell phone with his Texas ID. While searching the truck, officials noticed the vehicle was running but there was no key in the ignition, which was damaged. Law enforcement says this is a common practice for car thieves, who damage the ignition in order to start the vehicle without a key.
The recovered hotel key card led law enforcement to the Key Inn, the complaint said.
The front desk employee told officers that just after he saw police responding to the bank, four men entered the lobby and went into their room. Law enforcement then discovered that the ID used to rent the room belonged to Brown, the complaint added.
The four men were later identified as Durham, Gill, Williams, and Merchant.
Law enforcement said SWAT teams arrived after the four men refused to come out of the room. After nearly two hours, law enforcement entered through the windows of the room and the four men exited and were arrested.
A review of CCTV footage showed an SUV driving back and forth on County Road B2 during the theft, before leaving for the Key Inn. Clothing found inside the SUV matched clothing worn by the suspects during the theft, the complaint states.
The complaint states Durham has previous convictions in Iowa, while Gill, Williams, Merchant, and Brown all have previous felony convictions in Texas.
Officials say there have been more than 50 thefts using the same method of operation since 2021. After their arrest, Brown and Williams were identified as two suspects involved in another incident with an ATM in St. Paul on Dec. 12.