ST. PAUL Two St. Paul residents arrested Tuesday night after a 45-minute car chase that crisscrossed the Twin Cities are suspected in more than 20 robberies and car thefts spanning three counties, police say.
Kashawn Jason Wertman, 18, and Nautica Alaja Argue, 19, were arrested outside a St. Paul residence after leading authorities on a circuitous pursuit across half a dozen metro cities, according to a news release issued Wednesday evening by the St. Louis Park Police Department.
Investigators with the SLPPD began searching for Wertman and Argue after identifying them as suspects in a Jan. 15 robbery, in which they allegedly threatened to shoot a female motorist before taking her keys and driving off in her vehicle, the news release said.
Investigators eventually tied the pair to seven aggravated robberies, 13 simple robberies, one attempted simple robbery and one motor vehicle theft, according to the release. In addition to St. Louis Park, these incidents occurred in White Bear Lake, Roseville, Richfield, Brooklyn Center, Woodbury, Columbia Heights, Plymouth, Edina and Eagan.
St. Louis Park police on Tuesday issued a probable cause arrest notice for Wertman and Argue to other nearby law enforcement agencies, which prompted Ramsey County sheriff’s deputies to search for the pair at the address on Maryland Avenue.
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Deputies found them about 6:15 p.m. outside the residence in a silver Audi TT, which had been reported stolen on Jan. 16, and attempted to pull the vehicle over, the news release said.
Wertman and Argue evaded authorities for about 45 minutes before arriving back at the residence on St. Paul’s East Side, where they were arrested.
Cases will be submitted to the Hennepin, Ramsey and Washington county attorneys’ offices, where charging decisions will be made, the news releases said.
