Blaine man pleads guilty to brutal robbery of elderly woman – incident posted on Facebook

A video posted on Facebook of an elderly woman being brutally robbed at a transit center led police to her assailant, Wesley Norman Martin, who pleaded guilty to the crime, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Tuesday.

Martin, 21, of Blaine, pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree, aggravated robbery in court on Monday. He will be sentenced on Nov. 16 and is expected to receive 54 months in prison.

According to the criminal complaint, on Feb. 13, police learned of a brutal attack and robbery of an elderly woman, which was posted on Facebook. An investigation revealed that the incident occurred the day before at the Chicago-Lake Transit Center. One of the main aggressors, who was captured on the video, was known to police and identified as Martin. Surveillance video from the transit shelter showed the victim sitting on a bench inside the shelter and Martin approaching her with accomplice Yetta Plair, 25, of Bloomington. Another accomplice videotaped the incident.

Martin and Plair can be seen hovering over the victim and appear to yell at her. At first, the victim ignored them, but after a while, she tried to get up and is repeatedly shoved back down onto the bench. Martin reaches inside the victim’s jackets, steals a liquor bottle from her and put it in his back pocket. A woman tries to intervene, but Martin pushes her aside and continues to accost the victim. She tries to push past Martin and Plair, but they grab her and prevent her from getting away, according to the complaint.

The video that was posted to Facebook captured the victim yelling, “Help me.” There were many people in the shelter who did nothing. An older man stepped up and pushed Martin away from the victim. Martin started fighting the older man. Plair can be seen holding the victim down and trying to rip off her shirt. Eventually, Martin left the transit center.

Plair pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated robbery and was sentenced on May 18 to 48 months in prison.