---

North Branch Police have finally seen resolution on a serious assault case from four years ago— as felony suspect Derrick Hoff was recently sentenced to 108 months in St. Cloud State Correctional Facility.  

Hoff,  39,  was identified by North Branch Police as one of two men believed to have committed aggravated robbery and first degree assault without a firearm, during a home invasion incident December 21, 2020.  

Officers were dispatched to a residence on Fahrion Avenue (between Flink and I-35) at 9 a.m. that day, responding to a call from a female in need of assistance.  She reported she was at the home, when two men  had entered the locked bedroom uninvited and made threats looking for drugs and cash.  The home security cameras showed their entry into the home the boyfriend rented was at 7:22 a.m.  Later police learned the landlord had shared the lock codes and other sensitive information to facilitate the intrusion.

The female was unhurt.  but the victim, 35,  was seriously injured from being beaten about his head and face.  The assault was also reportedly captured on videotape.  He was transported by Lakes Region EMS.  The two robbers were gone when the 9-1-1 call was made,  but followup using home camera video footage identified the men and the  assailant was apparently known to local authorities to be Derrick Hoff.  

He has been serving a 44-month sentence in another county, and only recently submitted the plea on the two counts for the North Branch aggravated robbery, which is why it took from January 2021, when charges were filed until now to resolve.

Charges developed as North Branch investigators learned that Blaine city police had arrested a person fitting the description of the assailant identified in the home-camera footage. City police in Blaine had detained Hoff on an unrelated warrant.  North Branch police obtained a search warrant and matched Hoff’s boots to the distinctive tread and size left at the assault/robbery scene.

---