Man Charged in Oakdale Gas Station Robbery

A St. Paul man has been charged in connection with a December 2012 robbery at an Oakdale gas station.

Hassan Mohamed Salim, 21, faces a felony count of aiding and abetting aggravated robbery.

Oakdale police a little after 2:30 a.m. on Dec. 26 were dispatched to the 10th Street SuperAmerica on a report of a robbery that had just occurred.

An employee told officers three men came in and argued with each other, and one of them grabbed a glass bottle and smashed it on the floor, according to the criminal complaint.

One man walked behind the counter and told the clerk they were going to rob the place, and a man later identified as Salim told the two others to “pull out that gun,” the complaint says.

He then started loading cartons of cigarettes into garbage bags. Money was also taken from the register.

They checked the worker for a cell phone and made her go into the bathroom; at no point did she see a gun, according to the complaint.

Oakdale police sent surveillance video from the store to area law enforcement agencies, and Salim and another man, Warsame Gobena Youb, were identified.

Investigators in February learned that Salim was in jail in Ramsey County, and obtained warrants to search him and his belongings.

On Salim’s cell phone was a photo taken less than a day after the Oakdale robbery showing him in the same clothing as one of the men in the surveillance video and holding a large amount of cash, according to the complaint.

The group made off with $141 in cash and 162 cartons of cigarettes valued at nearly $9,500.