A casino winner was assaulted and robbed of more than $38,000 in cash outside his house in Mahtomedi early Sunday morning, according to court documents.

The 67-year-old man told police he returned home from Treasure Island Resort & Casino with about $38,100 in cash about 2:15 a.m. Sunday when a red pickup pulled up to his residence in the 700 block of Griffin Court.

“Two black male occupants exited the motor vehicle, physically assaulted him, took the cash from him, and left in the red pickup,” according to a criminal complaint filed in Washington County District Court.

While the man was being punched and kicked by the men, two women relatives came out of the man’s house, according to the complaint. The men threatened that they “were going to kill the girls,” and one pointed a gun at one of the women and said, “You (expletive) better go inside or we will kill you.”

The men fled the scene, and the man who had been robbed took after them in his own vehicle, the complaint states.

Deangelo Romaine Jacox, Shawn Eric Lewis and Tristin Tyler Jacox Mann (Courtesy of the Washington County sheriff’s office)

Law enforcement eventually stopped the suspects’ red pickup near the intersection of Minnesota 36 and White Bear Avenue in Maplewood. The driver was identified as Deangelo Romaine Jacox, 32, of Coon Rapids. The two other men were identified as Shawn Eric Lewis, 35, of Bloomington, and Tristin Tyler Jacox Mann, 32, of Golden Valley.

All three men were charged with first-degree aiding and abetting aggravated robbery; second-degree aiding and abetting aggravated robbery, and aiding and abetting threats of violence-reckless disregard risk.

Jacox, the driver, faces an additional felony charge of fleeing a police officer, according to the complaint.

Lewis and Jacox Mann appeared in Washington County District Court on Tuesday morning. Lewis’s bond was set at $250,000 without conditions; Jacox Mann’s bond was set at $150,000 without conditions.

Jacox did not appear in court on Tuesday. The criminal complaint was not signed by a judge before the expiration hold expired at 3:13 a.m., authorities said, so he was released from custody.

Jacox was arrested on a warrant Tuesday night at his home in Coon Rapids, said Laura Perkins, a spokeswoman for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. He is expected to appear in court on Wednesday morning.

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As the MLB winter meetings neared a conclusion, a report surfaced of a Tuesday meeting between Chicago White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell.

The Sox confirmed that a meeting, first reported by Politico, took place. But they are not disclosing the topics discussed.

The future of the Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field has been a subject since an August Crain’s Chicago Business report on the team considering a move from the ballpark when its lease expires after 2029. That report listed a new stadium in the city or suburbs and relocating to Nashville among the possibilities.

Nashville has long been mentioned in speculation as a city to consider if MLB decides on expansion.

Reinsdorf discussed the Crain’s Chicago Business report during a session with reporters in late August.

“Somebody at Crain’s decided he wanted to write that, you’re looking at the Bears (stadium situation), and the White Sox lease has six or seven years left to go, and the White Sox have some options — they might move out of the city, they might move out of town, they might go to Nashville,” Reinsdorf said on Aug. 31. “That wasn’t us, that was a guy at Crain’s. And ever since the article came out, I’ve been reading about that I’ve been threatening to move to Nashville.

“That article didn’t come from me. But it’s obvious, if we have six years left (on the lease), we’ve got to decide: What’s the future going to be? We’ll get to it, but I never threatened to move out. We haven’t even begun to have discussions with the (Illinois) Sports (Facilities) Authority, which we’ll have to do soon.”

The Sox moved into Guaranteed Rate Field, then named new Comiskey Park, in 1991.

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Erick Fedde’s pitch arsenal got the attention of the Chicago White Sox.

“There’s some real material differences with his stuff,” Sox general manager Chris Getz said Wednesday. “He added the sweeper, he got a better feel for his sinker, he changed his attack plan. And he more or less dominated over in the (Korea Baseball Organization).”

The Sox signed the right-hander to a two-year, $15 million deal on Tuesday. The move is pending a physical.

The right-hander was sensational in 2023, going 20-6 with a 2.00 ERA and 209 strikeouts in 30 starts for the NC Dinos in the KBO. He pitched for the Washington Nationals from 2017-22.

“There’s been (KBO to the majors) success stories here recently, the Merrill Kellys of the world,” Getz said, referring to the Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher. “We talked to hitters over there, we talked to people that are around that league, and we felt he was the most feared pitcher in that league. And the numbers show it.

“We see a difference in his stuff. And for him to come back here, with that level of confidence and the ability, which is a difference from where it was before, we’re willing to take that bet, and we’re looking forward to giving him that runway here with the White Sox.”

As the MLB winter meetings wrap up, here are four takeaways from Tuesday and Wednesday.

1. The Sox liked the upside of Rule 5 pick Shane Drohan.

The Sox went the pitching route in Wednesday’s Rule 5 draft, selecting Shane Drohan.

The left-hander went 10-7 with a 5.06 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 27 appearances (25 starts) between Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester in the Boston Red Sox farm system in 2023.

“We had some early spring training looks on him this year, and we liked what we saw, and during the season, as well,” Getz said. “In further evaluation analytically, there were some indications of some upside here.”

The 24-year-old is 24-19 with a 4.32 ERA and 372 strikeouts in 77 appearances (73 starts) during three minor-league seasons.

“It’s an opportunity to take a shot on an arm that we feel has the potential to have some survival skills at the major-league level, to begin with, and long term with a little bit of upside that could potentially be a rotation piece or a reliever of some sort,” Getz said.

2. Discussions continue for the best option in right field.

The Sox have 2023 Silver Slugger Award winner Luis Robert Jr. in center field. They have Andrew Benintendi, an All-Star in 2022, in left field.

They are discussing the best option for right field.

“We certainly have internal options,” Getz said on Tuesday. “Just like other areas around the diamond, defense is certainly something that we’re focusing on. And we’re having conversations — whether it be with other clubs or free agents — to find a way to improve, just like other positions as well. Certainly outfield is a priority, too.”

Internal options include Gavin Sheets, who made a team-leading 61 starts in right field in 2023. He’s a natural first baseman. Oscar Colás was next on that list with 59 starts in right field, but he’ll likely begin 2024 where he finished 2023 — in Triple A.

“I think the best thing for (Colás) is to be at Charlotte,” Getz said. “Do I see him being down there the whole season? Hopefully not. We know what he’s capable of doing.

“We’ve had Gavin Sheets out there and he’s shown production offensively. We’ve asked a lot of him to play outfield and he looks to be capable, but it doesn’t mean that we’re not going to go out there and find ways to improve our defense as a whole. We’re fortunate to have Luis Robert. Benintendi is a sound defender, we think he can get even better out there. Just to find a team of outfielders is something we’re set out to do.”

3. The Sox continue to weigh catching options.

Getz noted on Tuesday the Sox have time to sort through their plans at catcher.

“We do have some sound defenders at the catching position,” he said. “In terms of a veteran presence or someone who is a little more seasoned, that’s something we’re looking at.”

Korey Lee did a bulk of the catching down the stretch. He’s shown potential behind the plate, but went 5-for-65 (.077) after joining the major-league team in late August.

Monday, manager Pedro Grifol said the catching situation is “to be determined.”

“There’s a lot of unknowns still in this club,” Grifol said. “There’s a lot of unknowns in the rotation, behind the plate. So that’s something that’s going to take a little bit of time.

“It might take all the way to spring training. Who knows? I’m confident in my conversations with Chris and the front office that we’re going to get this right.”

4. Assistant GM Josh Barfield honors the past and eyes the future.

Josh Barfield is one of the former big-leaguers in line to participate in the Hall of Fame East-West Classic, which will pay tribute to the Negro Leagues in Cooperstown, N.Y., during Memorial Day weekend.

“This is huge and I think it will bring more awareness to the guys who came before us, which is awesome,” Barfield said Tuesday.

Barfield took part in a news conference Tuesday highlighting the event. He has also been busy at the winter meetings in the role of assistant general manager with the Sox.

“We took a lot of time coming into this to prepare and get an idea of what we want our team to look like, not just next year but going forward, and trying to make moves that reflect that,” Barfield said. “We’ve had a lot of interest in a lot of guys, which is encouraging.

“The record might not have reflected that last year, but there is a lot of talent here. I think we’re going to have multiple options, depending on which way we go, to help improve the direction of next year’s team and beyond.”

Barfield joined the Sox in September.

“His evaluation of players is excellent,” Getz said. “When it comes to coaching hires, whether it be on the major-league side, the minor-league side, front office, his input has been very valuable. He’s experienced, both as a player and in the front office. He’s been part of an organization (the Arizona Diamondbacks) that had recent success.

“You talk about an organization that didn’t have many wins, and they climbed fairly quickly and obviously found their way to the World Series. His opinions and his evaluations and his input are very important to us based on what he was just able to do with the Diamondbacks.”

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ISABELLA, Minn. — A company eyeing helium extraction in northeastern Minnesota’s Duluth Complex is planning on more exploratory drilling this winter in hopes of confirming what a 2011 sample found: North America’s second-highest concentration of helium.

The so-called “appraisal borehole” will be drilled next to the hole sunk 12 years ago by a drill crew looking for copper, nickel and other metals between Cleveland-Cliffs’ Peter Mitchell Mine and Isabella.

In doing so, the crew accidentally discovered a pocket of gas 1,800 feet underground. The company, DMC USA, was a subsidiary of Duluth Metals, which would keep its focus on copper-nickel mining and become Twin Metals.

But British Columbia-based Pulsar Helium Inc., which formed in 2019 and went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange’s Venture Exchange in August 2023, heard about their finding. Most notably, that two labs confirmed the gases expelled from the drill hole contained 10.5% helium.

Tom Abraham-James, president and CEO of Pulsar, said commercial helium operations consider anything 0.3% helium or higher to be of economic interest.

“So you can just imagine 10.5% … it just seems too good to be true,” Abraham-James said in an interview with the Duluth News Tribune on Monday.

Pulsar has coined it the “Topaz Project” and will have a better idea of how much helium there is after the appraisal borehole is drilled in the first quarter of 2024, Abraham-James said. He said the company has the rights to the mineral leases, and extraction could begin 18 months after findings are confirmed. The company is also working on a helium project in Greenland.

He said that if a plant were to be up and running at the Topaz Project, the infrastructure would be relatively small, and only one borehole may be needed for extraction. He said he didn’t expect it to grow beyond five boreholes and that fracking wouldn’t be used. The plant would provide approximately 10 to 20 jobs, he said.

But in a state with no oil and natural gas industry, the permitting and environmental review process specific to helium extraction does not exist.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said it scheduled a meeting with Lake County officials to discuss whether local approvals apply and the agency is working with other state agencies to determine which existing rules and regulations are applicable to helium gas extraction.

“To date, we have determined that the Minnesota Department of Health has borehole safety regulations and groundwater protections established in law, but these are not specific to gas production wells,” the DNR said in a statement to the News Tribune on Monday. “Similarly, there are no specific requirements for DNR permits or mandatory environmental review categories that apply to Helium gas extraction at this time.

“The DNR is considering options for creating a regulatory structure for nonpetroleum gas extraction, including helium and green fuels such as hydrogen,” the DNR continued. “Through this effort, our goal would be to ensure that proper protections are in place for natural resources and human health, and also ensure that a fair royalty structure benefitting Minnesota schools and communities is in place for any proposed extraction of these gases from state lands.”

Helium is highly sought after for being very nonreactive and can be a lightweight gas or can take a liquid form at a temperature near absolute zero to cool equipment. It’s used in everything from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines, semiconductor manufacturing, leak testing, air tanks for both medical patients and deep-sea divers, the aerospace and defense industries and, yes, birthday balloons.

But over the last 20 years, the U.S. has experienced repeated shortages of helium, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Abraham-James hopes the Topaz Project will help alleviate that shortage. He said trucks filled at an on-site processing plant could be sent directly to users in Minnesota or elsewhere in the U.S.

The 2011 drill hole also released carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Abraham-James said nitrogen would vented while the carbon dioxide could be used to alleviate a shortage of medical- and food-grade carbon dioxide.

But there were no hydrocarbons found. In most cases, helium is produced as a byproduct of the oil and gas industry, resources Minnesota does not have.

What is does have is a trove of rocks.

“In that part of northern Minnesota, you’ve got some of the oldest rocks on the planet, and within the old rocks, they are typically quite well endowed with uranium and thorium … and over the millions and billions of years, that uranium or thorium disappears, it breaks down and you start to form lead and whatever the sorts of products may be, but you also form helium. So there is a breakdown product of those radioactive elements,” Abraham-James said, emphasizing that the radioactivity is long gone.

When the Midcontinent Rift formed 1.1 billion years ago as North America tried to pull itself apart, sending magma up and leaving behind deposits of copper, nickel and other metals in areas like Minnesota’s Duluth Complex and Tamarack Intrusion, it also formed big fissures that let helium move up and get trapped closer to the surface.

“So you’ve had all that time for the helium just to chug along and get trapped in the same place,” Abraham-James said.

Abraham-James believes there is more helium to be found in the Duluth Complex.

Besides the Topaz site, the DNR said it was unaware of additional helium occurrences in Minnesota.

The only other apparent documentation of helium in the state comes from a 1984 publication by the Minnesota Geological Survey, which said in 1976 a well’s water near Kettle River in Carlton County was found to contain 98% methane, 2% helium and less than 0.01% ethane after “the toilet in the bathroom exploded — a candle had ignited the accumulating gas — and it was found that gas in the water flowing from the faucets would burn.”

A reaction between groundwater and carbonaceous graphite, not oil or natural gas, was likely the source of the methane, the Minnesota Geological Survey said.

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