A Rogers, Minn., man will serve no time in prison for two separate assaults that left juvenile victims seriously injured in two Minneapolis incidents last year.
Jacobee John Paul Scherber, 20, was charged last November in a mob assault and robbery on a juvenile who had been lured to an apartment residence on Dean Court in the Cedar-Isles-Dean neighborhood on July 30, 2025, on the premise of delivering a portable speaker to a party.
According to charges filed in the case, after arriving at the apartment building, the juvenile victim was beaten, stomped, and robbed by 15-20 assailants in the hallway of the apartment. The assailants took the victim’s shoes, shirt, cellphone, key fob, and the speaker.
Part of the assault was captured on video provided to Crime Watch Minneapolis.
Images shared with Crime Watch by the victim’s family showed injuries sustained by the juvenile victim in the Dean Court robbery and assault that left him hospitalized with head injuries and other bodily injuries.
Scherber was eventually identified by police as one of the suspects in the beating and was charged in November with one felony count of simple robbery.
Another assault
That same week, Scherber was charged in another assault case that had occurred in the early morning hours of Aug. 12, 2025, at the University Commons student housing apartments at 609 Huron Boulevard Southeast.
Charges in the U-Commons case state that a juvenile and friends arrived at the apartment complex to attend a party. After arriving, they saw three people they did not know. One of the strangers (Suspect 1) fell down after trying to jump a fence, which prompted the victim and friends to laugh, the charging document stated.
Suspect 1 left but then returned and assaulted the victim with a liquor bottle, hitting him in the head several times before stabbing the victim in the arm with the broken bottle. As the victim tried to flee, two of the suspect’s companions (Suspects 2 and 3) chased down the victim and held him down on the ground.
The U-Commons victim was hospitalized with a concussion, traumatic brain injury, a broken left orbital bone, and lacerations to his arm, head, and chest requiring stitches and other emergency treatment to heal, charges said.
Surveillance video obtained by police in the U-Commons assault captured the entire incident. None of the suspects lived at the apartment complex or had permission to be there. Video showed they had climbed over a fence to gain entry to the pool area and then entered through an unlocked door to the common area of the apartment complex.
Scherber was eventually identified as Suspect 3 and was charged with felony counts of second- and third-degree assault with a dangerous weapon resulting in substantial bodily harm.
Plea deal
Last month, Scherber was offered a plea deal by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office’s lead prosecutor in the case, listed in court records as Ahmad Salah Samaha. The plea deal offered a downgraded charge in the U-Commons case to misdemeanor fifth-degree assault in exchange for a guilty plea, and offered a stayed 90-day sentence for one year, meaning no jail or prison time if Scherber remains law abiding while on probation. The plea deal also agreed to completely dismiss the Dean Court robbery case.
The plea deal was offered despite the fact that Scherber had failed to appear at hearings in the cases, and warrants were previously issued for his arrest for failing to appear. Scherber also has a separate Hennepin County felony case pending on a charge of receiving stolen property after being stopped while driving a stolen vehicle over a year ago in January 2025.
A family member of the Dean Court assault victim has been in communication with Crime Watch since the July assault on their juvenile family member. The victim’s family member told Crime Watch that the Hennepin County prosecutor previously indicated to the family that they were going to offer Scherber a plea to second-degree assault. However, that all changed as the case was set to go to trial and the lowered plea agreement was offered, the family member said.
“I am so f–ing upset with Hennepin County,” the victim’s family member told Crime Watch. “The pieces of crap just gave Jacobee the plea bargain of a lifetime!!” The family member also said that prosecutors had two eyewitness videos in the case, and that Scherber had admitted to the assault.
“Maybe this is why violent crime has dropped in Minneapolis. If they drop all the charges crime stats look great. So disgusting!!!” the family member said.
Scherber’s sentencing hearing in the assault cases is scheduled for May 14, 2026, before Judge Lisa K. Janzen, where he is expected to be placed on probation as part of the plea deal.
A second suspect in the Dean Court robbery and assault, Aniya Deshawn Tipton, 21, of Coon Rapids, who was also charged with simple robbery in the case, is now a wanted fugitive for failing to appear at a scheduled court hearing after being charged by summons in the case. Tipton is also wanted on warrants in at least two other felony cases.
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Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
Crime Watch MN
Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
