Two Charged with Robbing Guest at Eagan Hotel

Two south metro residents have been implicated in a knife-point robbery at an Eagan hotel. 

Nathan Scott Hayden, a 35-year-old South St. Paul man, has been charged with aggravated robbery in the first degree, a felony punishable by a minimum of 12 months and one day in jail and a maximum of 20 years in prison. The charges also carries up to $35,000 in fines. Hayden has also been charged with false imprisonment and making terroristic threats, both felonies.

Eagan resident Jennifer Marlene Anderson, 40, has been charged with one count of aggravated robbery in the first degree.

The robbery occurred on July 9 at an Eagan hotel. Around 1:41 a.m. a man called dispatch to report that he'd been robbed and assaulted in his room by four men and one woman. The group also made off with his truck.

According to the criminal complaint against Anderson and Hayden, the incident began on the previous day, July 8, when the victim was outside talking on his cell phone with a friend. The victim was discussing his impending divorce. When he hung up, he was approached by a man matching Hayden's description, who tried to console him.

The stranger, later identified Hayden, said the victim should feel good about himself because of all the "nice things" he had, including the brand new truck sitting outside. Hayden followed the victim into his room where the two began discussing guns. The victim, an avid gun collector, had several gun cases with him at the hotel.

Hayden eventually left and the man heard no more from him until midnight. The victim was sitting at a desk inside the room, with the door partially ajar, when Hayden walked in and demanded money and guns. Three unknown Native American men burst in behind him. Surrounded, one of the assailants lifted the victim's shirt to look for concealed weapons and searched his pockets. 

The victim was apparently "b****ing too much," so Hayden and another assailant both pulled out knives and held them to either side of the man's neck. The group then held him down on the bed and punched him, he said.

For the next two hours, Hayden and the others pressed the man for money, though he only had $26 in cash. Hayden tried to force the victim to transfer money to his account, while the three others ransacked the room. The man added that the assailants hit him and threatened to kill him and his family while he was accessing his account online.

However, the transfer timed out and the victim was locked out of the account, much to Hayden's chagrin. Instead, the four loaded up all the man's valuables into the truck, including the title and other documents, and then made a break for it.

Anderson was staying in the next room. The victim told police that he believed she "set up" the robbery and had been acting as a look out.

The truck was discovered in St. Paul, with Hayden's own bank documents inside. 

Both Hayden and Anderson remain in custody at the Dakota County Jail.