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   https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/IQO7PS7KP2HTY4IO3MYUVNSMFQ.jpg?&w=712   
   Deandray Easley (left to right), Vershone Hodges and Devontre Vann are each   
   charged with first-degree criminal sexual assault, aggravated robbery and   
   kidnapping. (Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)   
      
   Four people were charged Thursday in the armed robbery and rape of two women   
   near Raspberry Island in downtown St. Paul earlier this week.   
      
   Vershone J. Hodges, 20, Devontre J. Vann, 19, Deandray A. Easley, 18, and   
   Choncey Stewart, 16, are each charged with first-degree criminal sexual   
   assault, aggravated robbery and kidnapping. The three men are being held in   
   lieu of $500,000 bail and    
   prosecutors are seeking to have Stewart certified as an adult.   
      
   "Despite the victims complying with their orders and handing over their   
   valuables, the perpetrators in this case forced the female victims into a car   
   and repeatedly raped them," said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi. "These   
   allegations are brutally    
   horrific and we will prosecute these defendants to the fullest extent of the   
   law as we attempt to achieve justice for the victims, their families and our   
   community."   
      
   Hodges, Easley and Stewart are gang members, according to the criminal   
   complaint.   
      
   The two women and two male friends were hanging out near Raspberry Island when   
   they were approached by the four defendants about 11:15 p.m. Monday. Somebody   
   in the group believed he knew one of the men and had a short conversation.   
   Stewart cursed at the    
   person and pulled out a silver handgun, demanding he empty his pockets, the   
   complaint said.   
      
   Easley ripped one woman's purse off her shoulder, took her car keys and forced   
   the entire group to lie facedown on the pavement. They ransacked the car and   
   took all their cellphones, the complaint said.   
      
   One of the men forced several in the group to strip down to their underwear   
   and put a gun in the mouth of one. The victims were then asked if they wanted   
   to die and if it was worth dying over a robbery, the complaint said.   
      
   Stewart took the women, both 18, to the car and raped them, the complaint   
   said. Easley asked the victims if the sex was consensual, the complaint said.   
      
   The assailants then returned the two young men to the car and threw the car   
   keys into the bushes. Their attackers told the victims that if they left the   
   car to look for the keys or go for help, they would be shot, according to the   
   complaint.   
      
   On Tuesday, Hodges and Vann were arrested after a robbery at a SuperAmerica on   
   Robert Street in West St. Paul. When Stewart was arrested, he had one of the   
   women's cellphone in his possession, the complaint said.   
      
   Vann, Hodges and Stewart told police the sex was consensual. Easley denied   
   being at the island, the complaint said. The women identified all four   
   defendants from a photo lineup.   
      
   David Chanen • 612-673-4465   
      
   https://www.startribune.com/four-people-charged-in-rape-of-women   
   near-raspberry-island-in-st-paul/427297953   
      
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