Suspect charged after Newport robbery report

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A Newport man was arrested on suspicion of a felony weapons violation following a reported armed robbery.

Prosecutors charged Jerome D. Misters, 28, with possessing or transporting a firearm after being convicted of a felony violent crime. He had an initial appearance in Washington County District Court on Thursday, Nov. 29.

The charge stems from a reported robbery in a Newport parking lot and subsequent arrest in Cottage Grove on Nov. 21.

According to the criminal complaint:

Newport police were called shortly after 5 p.m. Nov. 21 on a report that a person was held up with a gun in a parking lot at Hastings Avenue and 21st Street.

The alleged victim said the suspect had a gun and demanded a bag. The suspect then fled without taking anything from the victim, who was not injured.

Later that day a Cottage Grove police officer stopped a vehicle on Highway 61 and 80th Street because it matched a description of a vehicle used in a gasoline drive-off in Woodbury and the Newport robbery.

While the officer talked with the 23-year-old driver and the passenger, later identified as Misters, he saw an open beer bottle in the backseat and live ammunition rounds in the glove box. The driver’s 4-year-old child was in the backseat.

The complaint says that during a search of the vehicle police found a 9 mm handgun under the front passenger seat, 9 mm ammunition in the console and .357 pistol ammunition in the glove compartment.

Misters was convicted of aggravated first-degree robbery in November 2011.

Misters was being held in Washington County jail on $75,000 bail for the new charge.

Newport Police Chief Curt Montgomery said the robbery investigation was still active and additional criminal charges are possible.

Tags: crime and courts, updates, crime