I-TEAM

I-TEAM: Raid Tipster Gave Police Wrong Name

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ― The I-TEAM has learned the name listed on a Minneapolis police report as the tipster who led police to raid on an innocent family's home is false, and the 24-year-old woman is wanted for crimes in another county.

The police report lists her name as Michelle Henderson and her home address as 1321 Logan Avenue North. It also incorrectly lists that address for Jermaine Brown, a man arrested by police following her allegations he threatened her with a gun at that location. The address is the home of the Khang family who were awakened to the sound of a Minneapolis SWAT team breaking into their house Dec. 16.

The I-TEAM has learned the woman's real name is Morgan Ashley Young and there is a warrant for her on prostitution and drug charges in Dodge County. She also faces a misdemeanor gun possession charge since a state trooper found a gun in her car after a traffic stop in Minneapolis. Both incidents, which are unrelated, happened last fall.

Young is the former live-in girlfriend of a man named Jermaine Brown. Young, using the name Henderson, told police in December that Brown was a member of the Rolling 60's street gang and that he had used a gun to threaten her. She also claimed he had several guns hidden in the Logan Avenue address, which turned out to be where the Khang family has lived for past four years.

Following up on her tip, and with additional information from their own investigation, the police department's Violent Offender Task Force (VOTF) arrested Brown on Dec. 15 after they saw him leave a house on Oak Park Avenue in North Minneapolis. They later obtained a high-risk search warrant for that house. During the search, they found three guns in the basement and later learned this was Brown's correct address, not 1321 Logan Avenue.

Brown's attorney said Brown will give police a DNA sample to prove he's not connected to the weapons found in his house on Oak Park Avenue.

"He did not know they were in the house, they were not his guns. He is assuming they were her guns based on her behavior in telling the police where they were and what kind of guns they were," said Mary Moriarty, a Hennepin County public defender who represents Brown.

After searching Brown's address from the Oak Park Avenue address, investigators from VOTF sent the police SWAT team to the Logan Avenue address to execute their next high-risk warrant. That's where a family with six young children was asleep in their beds when the SWAT team broke in the middle of the night.

Referring to Young, Moriarty added, "She is a bit of a mystery. She lied and gave the police the wrong address, and that could have gotten that family killed, it could have gotten the police killed."

The I-TEAM has learned authorities in Dodge County have a warrant for Young. She is wanted for felony charges involving promoting prostitution and drug charges.

Moriarty said Brown last saw Young early in the morning of Dec. 16. He says Brown argued with Young and then she left in his car to buy cigarettes. Six hours later, she went to police accusing him of threatening her with a gun. And Brown said that was the last he has seen of Young or his car. He denies her charges against him.

"He confronted her about stealing from him and told her that this just was not working out and she would have to move out of his house," said Moriarty.

Brown has been charged with assault and with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Moriarty said she is confident a jury will believe Brown's story when he goes on trial April 14.

 

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