BRAINERD — Three more men face charges for alleged involvement in the Dec. 28 armed robbery of a man in Brainerd's Bane Park, and one of them remains on the loose.
Thomas Anthony Flowers, a 20-year-old Duluth resident, was identified through text messages and other information, according to the Brainerd Police Department. Flowers was charged Jan. 11 with felony first-degree aggravated robbery and is currently in custody in the Crow Wing County Jail.
Logan Blake Hurt, a 19-year-old Hillman resident, was charged with the same felony Jan. 5 following his extradition from Buffalo County, Wisconsin , on a warrant related to the robbery investigation. Hurt was identified by the victim, according to police.
A third man — Jackson Blake Morales, 19, of Duluth — faces the same charge, but police have not located him and there is an active warrant for his arrest. Morales is a known associate of Hurt’s and police identified him through text messages about the robbery exchanged with Hurt, according to the complaint against Flowers. Morales is believed to have left the state.
Officers previously located another suspect after a surveillance video showed him buying a BB gun used in the robbery, as the weapon was purchased in Brainerd. The obtained video showed four people in the store with 21-year-old Ethan Malachi Martinez making the purchase. Martinez was not present for the robbery and faces charges of first-degree aiding and abetting aggravated robbery and first-degree conspiring to commit aggravated robbery, both felonies.
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According to the criminal complaint filed against Flowers, the victim went to Bane Park to sell marijuana to Hurt. Initially, the victim told police he met the robbery suspects to sell them a TV, according to a police department news release, but it was later learned to be the drug.
After meeting in the southeast parking lot nearest the bike trail, the victim reported two men pointed black handguns at him and said they would take the marijuana and everything from his pockets “for free.”
Hurt and the other men took the marijuana, cellphone and all of the personal items from the victim’s pockets, the victim told police. The group drove away in what was described as an older model dark-colored Chevrolet Trailblazer, according to police.
The victim then ran to a neighboring house where the owner was outside shoveling and asked him to call the police to report the robbery. The homeowner told officers prior to the victim’s arrival, the suspected vehicle drove past his house at a high rate of speed toward South Seventh Street. The victim stated the driver was a female.
Flowers’ next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 25 at the Crow Wing County Judicial Center in Brainerd.
Hurt was released on $150,000 bond Jan. 5 and his next court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 18, in Brainerd.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the Brainerd Police Department at 218-829-2805.
