Delfonzo Denell Wallace walked into a Wendy’s restaurant on University Avenue in St. Paul last month, according to criminal charges, pulled out a gun and told the employees inside to get down on the floor.
Then he instructed the fast-food restaurant’s manager to lock the door.
That account is detailed in one of two criminal complaints filed against Wallace this week charging the 30-year-old West St. Paul man with first-degree aggravated robbery.
The Wendy’s robbery took place at 10 a.m. on Sept. 19.
After telling the manager he wanted “all the money,” she emptied the contents of two cash registers into Wallace’s bag, according to the charges.
Then he told the rest of the employees to put their cell phones in a plastic Target bag he passed around, explaining to the group he was robbing the place to “feed his kids,” the complaint said.
He left with the cell phones and money, but wound up dropping the bag of cell phones outside.
Four days later, Wallace walked into Shaung Hur Grocery on University Avenue right after the store opened for the day at 7:50 a.m., charges say.
He put a small black handgun to the manager’s back and ordered him to take him to the safe, the complaint said.
The manager handed over $3,000 from the safe, which Wallace reportedly shoved into a backpack before fleeing.
His photo was captured on the store’s surveillance video, and police distributed the image to the media in hopes the public would help identify the suspect.
Four separate people said Wallace was the suspect, charges say.
They executed a search warrant at his apartment and found 3 BB guns as well as clothing similar to the garments work in the robberies, according to the complaint.
Wallace is suspected in at least five other similar robberies that took place in St. Paul between Aug. 12 and Oct. 10, authorities say.
He is expected to make his next court appearance Oct. 31.
He has no prior criminal convictions on his record.
