A 22-year-old Saint Paul man is facing a felony charge after prosecutors say he knocked a man unconscious and stole his phone, wallet, money and chain during Saint Paul's West Side Cinco de Mayo festival back in May. Prince Arvell Jordan now faces a charge of aiding and abetting first-degree aggravated robbery in Ramsey County District Court, nearly five months after the alleged attack along Cesar Chavez Street.
According to MN Crime, the case began on May 2 when a Saint Paul police sergeant working the festival spotted two men sprinting through the crowd as if fleeing a crime, according to the criminal complaint. The sergeant found a man unconscious on the sidewalk, bleeding from his mouth. A woman at the scene told officers that two men had attacked the victim, hit his head, knocked him down, and taken his phone and money, then yanked a chain from his neck before running off.
A Baby in His Arms During the Attack
The woman told police the victim had been holding an infant during the assault and said she believed the baby may have been struck in the head as well, per the same account. Officers detained Jordan after spotting him and a second suspect running away from the scene; Jordan was wearing a white t-shirt that was ripped at the chest when he was stopped. Police found two cell phones and other personal items on him.
One of those phones, a black iPhone, displayed the number from which an officer had called when investigators tried to ring the victim's cell — and its lock screen showed a picture of an infant wearing a bow on her head, matching the victim's own description of his phone as an iPhone 15 with a photo of his baby girl on the lock screen. The victim was taken to Regions Hospital and later told investigators he could not remember what happened before the assault and did not know the suspects. Investigators also reviewed social-media video that the article notes showed Jordan assaulting the victim, taking the black iPhone from his pocket, and fleeing on foot.
Months Between Incident and Formal Charges
The Ramsey County Attorney's Office did not file the felony charge against Jordan until October 1, nearly five months after the alleged assault, according to MN Crime. That gap is not unusual for the office: an independent study by the Justice Innovation Lab, published in April, found that Ramsey County prosecutors declined to charge 38.4 percent of felony cases referred by law enforcement between 2018 and 2024, most often citing insufficient evidence, as reported by Patch. Felony cases like Jordan's are heard in the Second Judicial District at the Ramsey County Courthouse in downtown Saint Paul, and Ramsey County Community Corrections operates the Ramsey County Correctional Facility in Maplewood.
A Festival Built on Volunteer and Off-Duty Security
The assault took place during the West Side's Cinco de Mayo celebration on May 1 and 2, a street festival along Cesar Chavez Street organized by West Side Fiestas and the West Side Boosters youth sports group, per St. Paul Voice. The event has shrunk considerably from its heyday, when it once drew as many as 100,000 attendees; in recent years it has drawn closer to 30,000 as it transitioned into a scaled-down, neighborhood-focused gathering, St. Paul Voice reports. Organizers had anticipated even lower turnout for 2026 given community concerns over federal immigration enforcement operations across the Twin Cities earlier in the year, according to the same outlet.
Security for the festival combined Saint Paul Police Department officers working contractual overtime shifts with volunteer community security personnel, a joint safety plan that explains how an off-duty sergeant happened to be positioned close enough to spot the fleeing suspects and intervene within moments. Public arrest records show Jordan, then 20, had a prior arrest by the Wayzata Police Department in Hennepin County on March 3, 2024.
An Isolated Incident Amid Falling Crime Rates
The case stands out against a broader statewide trend of declining violent crime. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's 2025 Uniform Crime Report found that robberies statewide fell 27.6 percent last year, to 2,054 reported incidents, down from 2,838 in 2024, Patch reported. Violent crime across the seven-county Twin Cities metro area dropped 14 percent over the same period, pushing Minnesota's overall violent crime rate to 226 per 100,000 residents — its lowest level since 2019.
Under Minnesota Statute § 609.245, first-degree aggravated robbery applies when a suspect inflicts bodily harm or uses a dangerous weapon during a robbery, carrying a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a $35,000 fine. Ramsey County encompasses Saint Paul and is served by the Ramsey County Attorney's Office, which brought the charge against Jordan nearly five months after the festival attack.
