Prosecutors charge man suspected in a string of Mpls. sexual assaults
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Authorities say they've linked an Anoka County man to multiple incidents of assault, rape and burglary going back to 2013, largely in the Marcy-Holmes and Dinkytown neighborhoods near the University of Minnesota.
Hennepin County prosecutors on Monday charged 34-year-old Jory Daniel Wiebrand with first-degree burglary and criminal predatory conduct in a June 2, 2019 break-in, and first-degree criminal sexual assault and first-degree burglary assault in an Aug. 7 crime.
According to the complaint for the August crime, Wiebrand broke into a home around 4 a.m., sexually assaulted a woman and sprayed her in the face with pepper spray as she tried to fight him off.
DNA from that crime scene was eventually compared to Wiebrand’s, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said.
“Until last week, Mr. Wiebrand’s DNA was not on file with any police agency, so developing a fingerprint and getting a match from an earlier, unrelated arrest allowed police to identify him as a suspect and seek a search warrant to obtain his DNA,” Hennepin County Mike Freeman said in a statement.
Hennepin County prosecutors say more charges are likely this week. According to Freeman’s office, Wiebrand is suspected in 10 total cases between 2013 and 2020 in the same Minneapolis neighborhoods and in Anoka County.
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