The home break-in would have been scary for anyone, but for a group of disabled adults, it was especially terrifying.
One assailant put a gun to a female resident’s head. Her roommate was attacked, as was a staff member — who struggled to keep residents calm despite the chaos.
“They not only trashed the house, they destroyed (the residents’) feeling of home,” said Lori Jasper, president and co-founder of Legacy Endeavors, which provides housing for people with disabilities in Ramsey and Washington counties.
Legacy runs the Roseville home in the 2800 block of Lexington Avenue North.
One of those involved in the Dec. 22 home invasion, Renesha Irma Motten, was sentenced Friday, Aug. 17, to three years and five months in prison. She pleaded guilty of aiding and abetting first-degree aggravated robbery June 8.
Motten, 21, of St. Paul, expressed regret for her role in the incident.
“I want to apologize to the court, to the victims and their families,” she said during the hearing in front of Ramsey County District Judge Lezlie Ott Marek. “I made a mistake, and I learned my lesson.”
She was one of four people charged in the robbery.
Two others, De’Aries Collins and Jermain Beasley, pleaded guilty. Levius Williams, 17 at the time of the robbery, was certified to stand trial in adult court but has appealed that certification.
There were different accounts of who did what in the crime and whether Motten was inside the home. But she admitted she knew a robbery would take place and acknowledged being the getaway driver. Motten also was recorded on gas station videos along with the men as one of them withdrew money from a group home resident’s bank account at an ATM.
They had stolen the debit card during the robbery and forced the resident to give them her PIN.
According to criminal complaints in the case:
A staff member at the home heard a knock on the door the evening of Dec. 22. When he answered it, the intruders forced their way in.
They pistol-whipped the employee and demanded cash, bank cards and drugs. They asked where the keys, lockbox and “meds” were kept. The employee “felt that they were familiar with the group home operation, as they asked questions about things that were present in the group home,” the complaint said.
Ramsey County prosecutor Richard Dusterhoft said during the hearing that Motten was a certified personal-care assistant. She was probably the one with knowledge of how a group home operates, he said.
In addition to the prison sentence, Marek ordered Motten to pay $18,246, along with the other defendants, in restitution to Legacy for unreimbursed costs. She and the others must also pay $45 in restitution for one of the residents who was robbed.
Motten also was given a sentence of 15 months in an unrelated case in which she stole a 91-year-old man’s wallet at a St. Paul gas station Dec. 24. That sentence is to be served at the same time as the robbery sentence.
Emily Gurnon can be reached at 651-228-5522. Follow her at twitter.com/emilygurnon.
