Police investigating reported burglary, sex assault in St. Paul

Police investigating reported burglary, sex assault in St. Paul

Police investigating reported burglary, sex assault in St. Paul

Investigators are looking for more information after a man reportedly broke into a home in St. Paul, robbed a woman and then sexually assaulted her early Monday morning.

The St. Paul Police Department says officers were called to the 300 block of Snelling Avenue South in the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood at around 4:30 a.m. There, a woman said she awoke to the sound of someone pounding on her door, and a man then forced his way inside, robbed her and sexually assaulted her.

She was evaluated at a hospital but the suspect fled before officers arrived and, despite a search, wasn’t located, police say.

“Our canine handlers, our drone operators, everybody was out there,” said Sergeant Mike Ernster. “It was a full-court press trying to locate who was responsible for this crime.”

The man is described as a Black man, 25 to 35 years old, between 5-foot-10 and 5-foot-11, wearing a black T-shirt, black pants with a zipper on the right leg, and black heavy-soled shoes. He also had a vertical scar from his sternum to belt line, according to the description released by police.

“It’s the number one priority of our department. And not only for the victim but for that community, who I’m sure is suffering anxiety right along with the victim,” Ernster said about the effort to find the suspect.

“It’s the one thing that you fear about for your daughter, for anybody to go through, and we want to do everything we can to alleviate those fears and to get this person into custody so that this survivor can move forward with her life,” he added.

Officers are asking anyone with information that could help identify the man to call investigators at 651-266-5685.