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Valentine’s Day rape attempt charges filed » Local News » The Free Press, Mankato, MN

  • June 21, 2011 at 4:24 pm

MANKATO — A man accused of a brutal rape in December 2008 and sentenced to 20 months in prison after reaching a plea deal is now facing new kidnapping and sexual assault charges for allegedly attempting to rape a woman while her 10-year-old son hid in his bedroom. Thomas James Zuehlke, 40, had been released from prison under intense supervision in December 2010 before he left house arrest the following February. Department of Corrections authorities had already been looking for him for a day when he allegedly attempted to rape a woman in her Mankato apartment on Valentine’s Day. the victim reported two friends brought Zuehlke to her apartment earlier that night. she asked her friends to make him leave after he started showing her suggestive messages on his cell phone. After the three men left, Zuehlke allegedly returned alone and forced his way into the victim’s apartment after she answered her door. When she tried to escape by saying she had to go to the bathroom, he followed her in. Her son was playing on his computer in his bedroom at the time. At that point Zuehlke told the woman he was going to rape her and, if she didn’t comply, he would go to her son’s bedroom and rape him, the victim reported. she attempted to escape Zuehlke a second time by saying she needed to help her son brush his teeth, then quickly locking Zuehlke out of the bathroom. the victim told investigators she was able to use her cell phone to call one of her friends, but Zuehlke forced his way into the bathroom before she was able to talk. When interviewed later, the friend the woman called said he could hear her screaming. He said he lives nearby and ran over to her apartment to help her. the woman’s son let him into the locked apartment and he found Zuehlke on top of the victim and attempting to take her clothes off, the friend reported. the boy also said he believed Zuehlke was attempting to rape his mother because she was crying and Zuehlke had tackled her. He said he grabbed a sword he had bought at the Renaissance Festival and hid in his bedroom. Zuehlke was arrested Feb. 17 and returned to the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes. He is scheduled to be released next month, but a warrant was issued for his arrest when charges related to the Feb. 14 incident were filed last week in Blue Earth County District Court. so he will be turned over to the Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Department when he is released from prison. He has been charged with kidnapping, attempted first-degree criminal sexual conduct and first-degree burglary. Zuehlke’s prison sentence resulted from an incident on Dec. 28, 2008. the victim in that incident reported Zuehlke held a knife to her while he sexually assaulted her at a Mankato residence. That woman ran from the house after Zuehlke fell asleep and drove to Mankato’s Law Enforcement Center to report the rape. Zuehlke was arrested at the house at gun point, the criminal complaint said. He admitted to arguing with the victim, wrestling with her and having consensual sex. He denied having a knife. He was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, making terroristic threats and domestic assault by strangulation. He reached a plea agreement on June 8, 2009, that dismissed the criminal sexual conduct, assault and threats charges in exchange for his guilty plea for the felony domestic assault charge. He was sentenced to 32 months in prison. With a one-third reduction in time for staying out of trouble and credit for time he had already served in jail, Zuehlke was placed on intense supervised release in December.

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The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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