A 49-year-old St. Paul man pulled off four armed robberies at east-metro businesses while on conditional release in connection with a 2021 bank robbery and on probation from an earlier federal bank robbery conviction, charges filed in Ramsey County this week allege.
Michael Dashon Wise already was charged with the March 8, 2021, robbery of a U.S. Bank branch on Larpenteur Avenue in Roseville. Authorities say they were able to tie Wise to the robbery through DNA found on a demand note given to a teller and on a glove lost while fleeing the bank. Wise was released from the Ramsey County jail on Aug. 24, 2022, after posting a $500 bond, ahead of future court hearings in the case.
Nearly a year later, Wise went on an armed robbery spree that included hitting up the same convenience store twice over the course of 2½ months, authorities say.
Tuesday’s criminal complaint alleges the following:
Wise, wearing a green camouflage hooded sweatshirt, black sunglasses, black pants and a black mask with marijuana leaves on it, walked into the Super USA convenience store at 2424 Larpenteur Ave. in Lauderdale just before 3 p.m. on Aug. 6.
He asked for two packs of Swisher cigars, then pulled out a black handgun and put it on the counter with the barrel pointed at the employee. He demanded “everything in the register” and left with an unspecified amount of cash.
About an hour later, Wise, donning the same disguise, robbed Setzer Pharmacy at 1685 Rice St. in Roseville in the same way, placing a gun on the counter and demanding money. He left with no less than $200.
Surveillance cameras caught the heists, and surveillance video from an apartment building near the pharmacy also shows Wise get into the driver’s seat of a black Buick LaCrosse sedan, which registers to a 49-year-old woman.
Officers went to her Bloomington home and confirmed the car was the one used in the pharmacy robbery.
Officers were put on Wise’s trail through social media posts. They discovered the woman is Facebook friends with Wise and that they appear to be in a relationship. A photo on Wise’s Facebook page shows him wearing a camouflage sweatshirt that matches the one the robber wore on Aug. 6.
Officers were given Wise’s cellphone number by his federal probation officer, and his phone tracking put him near the businesses at the time they were robbed, the complaint says.
A guilty plea and two more robberies
On Sept. 13, Wise reached a plea deal with Ramsey County prosecutors in the 2021 bank robbery.
In exchange for pleading guilty to an added count of gross misdemeanor theft, the felony robbery charge would be dismissed at the Nov. 15 sentencing hearing. The deal called for no time in prison time, but unsupervised county probation and continuation of federal probation through June 2025.
However, just over a month after the plea deal, Wise was back to his criminal ways, the latest charges allege.
Just before 1 p.m. on Oct. 20, officers were sent to Village Bank at 9298 Central Ave. in Blaine on a robbery report.
Wise, wearing a red wig, white gloves, a white facemask and long blue jacket with white polka dots, entered the bank, grabbed a deposit slip and scribbled on it. He gave a teller the note, which demanded money. He fled with an unspecified amount of cash and got into a black Buick.
About nine hours later, St. Anthony police officers were sent to the Super USA in Lauderdale that was robbed Aug. 6.
Wise, wearing the same getup, asked a clerk for a pack of Newport cigarettes. He then pulled out a gun, set it on the counter and told the clerk to empty the drawer. He took the money, approximately $300, and fled, according to charges.
Police discovered Wise’s phone pinged off a tower in the area of the Super USA a total of 38 times just before and after the Oct. 20 robbery. Phone records show he immediately headed to Running Aces in Columbus. Surveillance video from the casino shows Wise parking a black Buick.
2016 federal conviction
Wise was charged by warrant Tuesday with three counts of first-degree aggravated robbery and arrested the same day in Minneapolis. He made an initial court appearance Wednesday before Judge Kathleen Gearin and remained jailed Thursday on $250,000 bail.
As of Thursday, a case against Wise related to the Blaine bank robbery has not been presented to the Anoka County attorney’s office for possible charges, a spokesman said.
In November 2016, Wise was indicted in federal court on two counts of armed robbery in connection with robbing the U.S. Bank on Silver Lake Road in St. Anthony of $3,690 in August 2015 and the Wells Fargo Bank on Central Avenue in Northeast Minneapolis of $5,640 less than a month later.
He pleaded guilty to one count and in May 2016 was sentenced to five years and four months in prison and five years of supervised release. He was released from prison on June 10, 2020.
