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Minneapolis 18-year-old sentenced for string of armed robberies that terrorized local businesses

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A Minneapolis man was sentenced to nearly eight years in prison Tuesday for his role in a string of armed robberies he committed as a minor targeting local businesses.

Ja’Bron Dedrick Duane Jiles, 18, was charged as an adult in February in connection with 10 robberies across the city that victimized employees and customers at food and retail establishments throughout a five-week period in 2021.

He was accused of robbing Checkpoint Welding, Mother Earth Gardens, Tao Natural Foods Café, Cuppa Java, Bryn Mawr Market, Lustre Skin Care, DreamHaven Books, Mel-O-Glaze Bakery and a BP gas station at 6004 Penn Av. S.

At the time, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said that “accountability through the adult system was the appropriate path” given how lucky it was that no one lost their lives during the attacks.

Jiles admitted guilt in six of those cases last month under a plea agreement that would allow him to serve 95 months behind bars and four years’ probation upon release. That includes an additional 48-month stayed sentence.

State guidelines require that two-thirds of a criminal sentence be served in prison and the remaining third served on conditional release. But with credit for more than 600 days in jail, Jiles is expected to get out in under four years.

On Tuesday, Jiles appeared in Hennepin County District Court wearing an orange prison jumpsuit to hear victim-impact statements. In written submissions read by Hennepin County victim advocate Sheila Poechmann, the owners of Cuppa Java and Bryn Mawr Market described the terror of Oct. 18, 2021, when Jiles assaulted a patron at the coffee shop, stole her laptop and robbed both Penn Avenue businesses at gunpoint.

Both stores lamented a significant reduction in foot traffic from customers, which forced them to shorten business hours and lose profits. The robberies also took an emotional toll on their staff.

“Most of the employees are refusing to work evenings and may be looking for other jobs,” Cuppa Java’s owner wrote.

In one case — ultimately dismissed under the plea agreement — Jiles was accused of pulling a handgun on a woman holding an infant at a friend’s apartment, where he allegedly made off with three cellphones and $2,000 in cash.

“I feel he deserves all the consequences of his actions,” an unnamed victim from that gun-pointing incident wrote in an impact statement.

As Judge Hilary Caligiuri delivered the sentence and acknowledged the use of a firearm in these offenses, Jiles began speaking to an empty courtroom — apparently taking issue with the allegations involved in the dismissed case and facts of others.

“I would never put no gun to no baby’s head. I would never beat someone over $150,” he told the judge. “I don’t want to be lied on like that.”

During the spontaneous outburst, Jiles also apologized to his victims and referenced his “messed-up” childhood, saying that he hasn’t always gotten the medication he needs.

Jiles has been charged with over 30 cases since 2017. Recent charges have been pending a long time because at one point Jiles was found incompetent to stand trial, but another psychologist re-examined Jiles and found he was malingering.

Public defender Kathryn Cima noted that Jiles earned his GED while incarcerated and has grown in the four years she’s been working with him.

“If anyone thinks he’s not remorseful, that’s not right,” Cima said, adding that Jiles may not always express it well. “He’s taking responsibility for this behavior.”

“I expect that Ja’Bron will come out and be in a better place.”

Caligiuri then wished Jiles luck in prison.

“I hope you come out productive and have the life you want.”

Jiles nodded and stood so deputies could secure his handcuffs. As they led him away, he turned to the male clerk and said: “I like your suit.”

Staff writer Kim Hyatt contributed to this report.



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After defeat, supporters of St. Paul’s childcare payment plan not giving up

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In compiling a workable plan that shows a way to help families fill the gaps in state and federal aid for childcare, years of planning and advocacy paid off in greater visibility of low-income families’ struggles — and a possible way forward., Loewen said.

“The problem’s not going away, and neither are we,” he said. “We just have to determine what‘s next.”



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Minneapolis Park Board recommends closure of four outdoor rinks partially because of last year’s warm winter

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After only one week when people could skate on outdoor ice rinks during a record warm winter last year, Minneapolis wants to scale back its number of rinks.

In late October, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board recommended closing five outdoor rinks in its proposed 2025 budget due to climate change, increased supplies and materials needed due to inflation as well as fluctuating lake ice and warming house costs. The number of suggested rink closures has since been reduced to four, according to Park Board staff.

The rinks that are recommended to close this winter are in Webber, Windom and Powderhorn Parks. The Lyndale Farmstead Park rink will close in 2025-26.

“Powderhorn and Webber are both built on water bodies, and that makes it more challenging to open and maintain than rinks built on land due to changing ice thickness and quality,” said board spokeswoman Robin Smothers.

The decision to close the Windom and Lyndale Farmstead rinks are “based on proximity to other rinks and the challenges of constructing the various sites,” Smothers said.

The Matthews Park rink was originally recommended to be closed, but Smothers said the rink will stay open since the board would not want two rink closures in one district.

All of this is subject to change until the budget gets approved by the board on December 10. If all the proposed rinks close, it would bring the number of Minneapolis outdoor rinks from 22 to 18.

Joe Dziedzic, a former Minnesota Golden Gophers hockey player who went on to play professionally for the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Phoenix Coyotes, grew up near the Windom Park rink in northeast Minneapolis. He said it saddened him to see the city potentially discontinue the rink.



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Minneapolis Labor Standards Board plan gets mixed reception

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After years of speculation, Minneapolis City Council members have finally laid out their long-awaited Labor Standards Board proposal, which would bring workers and employers together to deliberate new regulations for industries with well-known problems, such as labor trafficking in construction.

Labor unions are pushing for it, and two years ago Mayor Jacob Frey and a majority of council members said they supported creating a Labor Standards Board. But the notion of creating a new layer of government, with workers having a role in regulations that impact business owners, has led to a wave of opposition from local and national industry groups.

Council members promised to pass the Labor Standards Board by the end of the year. At Wednesday’s public health committee, City Clerk Casey Carl, Council Vice President Aisha Chughtai and Council Members Aurin Chowdhury and Katie Cashman presented the structure of the panel for the first time.

Facing a phalanx of competing signs for and against the Labor Standards Board, they described the proposed board as being composed of an equal number of business owners, workers and other community stakeholders (such as consumer advocacy representatives), who would create sector-specific work groups as needed to discuss issues in specific industries and recommend policy solutions to the City Council, which would then go through its regular process of vetting new policies.

“The goal of this structure is to foster collaboration among stakeholders and creative solutions instead of one-size-fits-all policymaking,” said Chughtai. “It’s supposed to increase participation and engagement of those affected day to day by our workplace policies, and ultimately to allow for data informed policy recommendations to be considered by the City Council.”

Chowdhury said: “What this is about is trusting our local businesses, trusting our workers and trusting consumers and experts and saying, ‘Hey, we trust you, we believe that you’re the experts, you should have a table to come together on and have a robust discussion to inform us as policy makers. Most [businesses}, they aren’t acting in an egregious way that’s impacting their workers in a negative fashion, but we want to go and examine the sectors where workers are struggling, where labor standards that are needed are missing, to improve the workplace and in turn improve our economy.”

Earlier this year, national organizations that opposed raising wages for fast food workers in California conducted an ad blitz opposing the Minneapolis Labor Standards board. Since then, a growing number of business groups — the Minneapolis Restaurant Coalition, Hospitality Minnesota, the Minneapolis Regional Chamber, the Downtown Council and Minnesota Retailers — have also urged the council to abandon the board. Small business restaurateurs of color have been the most outspoken, saying they cannot withstand any new regulations after previous years’ passage of minimum wage and sick time ordinances, and do not want workers telling entrepreneurs how to run their businesses.

Speaking for business owners on Wednesday, Council Member Michael Rainville predicted the Labor Standards Board would pit small business owners against their employees. “This makes the city government become a union organizer,” he said. “This will do nothing to decrease the amount of empty storefronts in Uptown or downtown. The business community has made it clear that when their leases are up, they’re going to leave Minneapolis and or just simply close the business.”



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