Man charged with armed robbery of St. Paul bank

A St. Paul man is charged with robbing a bank at a gunpoint on Tuesday.

Prosecutors charged 42-year-old Andre Christopher Nelson three counts of first-degree aggravated robbery and three counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon on Wednesday, just a day after the alleged incident took place.

According to court documents, St. Paul police were called to Huntington Bank on Suburban Avenue at around 9:20 a.m. Tuesday. There, two tellers reported that Nelson came into the bank while wearing a mask with a skull on it and holding a grocery store bag and a dark handgun.

The tellers told officers that Nelson went around to three tellers, pointed the gun at them and had them put the money from their drawers into his bag. He then told them, “Have a nice day. Stay warm,” the complaint states, and left.

However, some of the money he stole had a tracker, which showed police where he was.

The criminal complaint states that officers found Nelson carrying a bag filled with cash, a gun and the mask with a skull on it. While he initially refused to identify himself, the complaint adds that officers found a library card on him that had his name on it. He was then taken into custody.

His first court appearance is scheduled for Thursday morning.

If convicted, he faces up to 20 years and a $35,000 fine on the robbery charges and up to seven years and a $14,000 fine on the assault charges.