ST PAUL, Minn. — A man prosecutors call "an extremely high risk to public safety" is now charged with breaking into a stranger's home and sexually assaulting her at gunpoint.
Court documents detail the case against 34-year-old Deonte Marquon Thomas of Maplewood, who is charged with four criminal counts including first-degree criminal sexual assault and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Squads were dispatched to a home on the 300 block of Snelling Ave. South just before 4:30 a.m. on April 15 and found a woman sitting on the front steps, visibly upset. She told officers she was sleeping in her bedroom when she heard pounding on the side of the house, and then saw a man - later identified as Thomas - break glass on the door and reach in to unlock and open it.
After asking what the intruder wanted, the victim says he wanted to know where the money was at. The woman says she held out her purse, but he instead physically attacked her.
The victim told investigators that after struggling with her attacker in the bathroom floor and on a bed, he pulled a gun from his pants and sexually assaulted her, at one time strangling her to the point of unconsciousness. She described biting the assailant on his arm "as hard as she could" during the struggle.
The victim was able to describe her attacker, who had a long vertical scar extending from his sternum to his beltline and smelled strongly of body odor and alcohol.
DNA samples were obtained from the body of the victim during a sexual assault exam, while investigators obtained surveillance video from residents of the neighborhood. Investigators say one showed a suspicious truck parked in the alley with five of six license plate characters visible. A DVS data search traced the pickup to Thomas. A still shot from another video showed a man on the property that the victim identified as her attacker. The defendant's girlfriend also identified the man as Thomas.
Police say that after Thomas was arrested, he told detectives he was "frustrated" and "angry" over his life circumstances and randomly picked a home to break into. He allegedly admitted robbing and then sexually assaulting the homeowner but denied using a gun.
A search of the defendant's pickup turned up a loaded .40 caliber handgun in the glovebox and a subsequent search of his girlfriend's home located to more firearms.
Records show that Deonte Thomas has at least three previous felony convictions, and is not allowed to possess a firearm.
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