Charges: Eagan Teen Broke Into Home, Assaulted Girl
EAGAN, Minn. (WCCO) – A 17-year-old Eagan teen is accused of breaking into an Eagan home and assaulting a 17-year-old girl on Saturday, according to charges filed Tuesday in Dakota County Court.
William Donald Maloney was charged with two felony counts of first-degree burglary and one felony count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the incident. Maloney was also charged with one felony count of second-degree burglary in connection with a June 20, 2010 break-in of another Eagan home.
According to court documents, the girl and her family were asleep on Saturday night in their home on Valley Forge Lane when Maloney allegedly broke into the home. The girl woke up to him standing over her.
She told an Eagan detective that she felt blankets being pulled off of her. She started to scream, she said, and then Maloney allegedly grabbed her neck with one hand and put his other hand over her mouth.
Maloney allegedly dressed in dark clothes and wore a ski mask during the incident.
"She could've easily been a rape victim or even worse," said Eagan Police Chief Jim McDonald.
The young woman's father told Eagan Police that the screens on his exterior windows had been cut twice this summer, and the girl told police she had seen a man looking into her window. She also told police that she thought the man had the same headlight type of flashlight on his head that Maloney wore in this latest incident.
While Maloney was attempting to assault the girl, she scratched him on his neck several times and created a deep wound. An Eagan Police detective who later interviewed Maloney noticed four distinct marks on his neck. The girl told Eagan Police that she watched the CBS show "CSI" and knew that a mark left on his neck would help police track him down.
"We were able to locate a suspect with scratches consistent with how she described the injuries," said McDonald. "That helped us break the case."
The girl told police that she met Maloney in a youth group and would say "hi" to him in high school. Eagan Police said that Maloney admitted in a police interview that he had stolen the garage door opener from the victim's family from a car in the driveway earlier that night. Police also said the he first denied it, but later admitted he took some underwear from the victim's drawer. Authorities said he also admitted he was sexually attracted to the girl and had a knife in his pocket.
McDonald said Maloney confessed to breaking into other homes in the area and peeking through the windows of another home, all incidents that date back to June of 2010.
Savage Police said they believe he could be responsible for a break-in at the Hidden Valley Apartments where a 7-year-old girl woke up to find a man standing over her. A police captain said he couldn't comment on whether Maloney had been ruled out as a suspect.
Earlier this summer in Burnsville, a suspect also cut open a screen window and walked into a woman's apartment on the 13000 block of Wellington Crescent.
McDonald said he hopes residents are at ease now that Maloney has been arrested and the incidents will likely come to a halt.
Maloney is still in the Juvenile Detention Center in Hastings and his next court appearance is set for Oct. 25. Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom is pressing for Maloney to be certified as an adult in these crimes.
