2 Men Charged With Raping Women At Light Rail Stations
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Two men face sexual assault charges after allegedly raping women in separate incidents last week at Twin Cities light rail stations.
Twenty-five-year-old Javed Mobin and 45-year-old Lee Lenoir are charged in the assaults, documents filed in Hennepin County show.
The first assault happened early Thursday morning at the 28th Avenue Metro Transit Station in Bloomington.
According to a criminal complaint, the victim told police that Mobin threated to kill her, forced her to perform oral sex on him and raped her.
He only stopped and fled when another person appeared. Police were able to identify him via surveillance video and later arrested him at a St. Paul homeless shelter.
He is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, which carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.
The second assault happened Friday night at the Franklin Avenue Station in Minneapolis.
A criminal complaint says the Lenoir assaulted a mentally impaired woman who was "clearly physically helpless," not to mention drunk, with a blood alcohol content level of 0.231.
Surveillance footage shows the two drinking vodka at the station and the woman passing out. Lenoir gropes and assaults her, while the woman, when briefly conscious, tries to push him away.
A Metro Transit officer interrupted the assault, and Lenoir was taken into custody.
He faces two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Each carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
The complaint says the prosecutors will seek a stiffer sentence because the victim was particularly vulnerable.