A Chisholm man pleaded guilty Thursday to armed robbery and drug charges, a little more than a month after authorities said he robbed a gas station at knifepoint.
Authorities arrested 18-year-old Alexander Michael Horner on drug charges during the execution of a search warrant at his Chisholm apartment on April 25. The Chisholm Police Department reported that officers then discovered he was the same suspect they were seeking in a gas station robbery a day earlier.
On Thursday, Horner appeared in State District Court in Hibbing, pleading guilty in separate cases to first-degree armed robbery and fifth-degree possession of oxycodone, both felonies.
Judge Mark Starr ordered a presentence investigation into Horner’s background and scheduled sentencing for July 10.
The Chisholm Freedom Valu Center at First Avenue and Lake Street was robbed at knifepoint in the early morning hours of April 24, police said. Hours later, the department sent out a news release seeking the public’s help in identifying the man.
In an unrelated investigation, authorities that night conducted a search warrant at Horner’s apartment, 429 Second St. S.W. Evidence and subsequent investigation linked Horner to the gas station robbery, and he confessed, the Chisholm Police Department said.
Horner has remained in the St. Louis County Jail on $75,000 bail for the armed-robbery charge and $15,000 bail for the drug charge. An additional petty misdemeanor charge of possession of a small amount of marijuana will be dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
