Charges: Homeless Man Raped Woman Who Gave Him A Place To Stay
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A homeless man is accused of raping a St. Paul mother of three after she let him stay at her place last week because he had nowhere else to go.
Luke Michael Johnson, of Billings, Montana, is charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, documents filed in Ramsey County show.
He is currently being held in the county jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.
According to a criminal complaint, Johnson was staying at the woman's home overnight on March 29. The woman told authorities she let Johnson stay with her sometimes when he wasn't traveling the country on trains and needed a place to sleep.
After the woman went to bed for the night, Johnson entered her room, pulled down her pants and assaulted her.
The victim reports that Johnson tried to strangle her, slapped her in the face and forced his fingers down her throat. She told police she tried to push Johnson off, but he was too heavy.
In a Facebook post, the victim said the assault lasted several hours and she suffered internal bruising in her neck and scratches inside her mouth.
"I am afraid to go home," she wrote. "My children are afraid to go home."
She says that one of her children, a 3-year-old girl, witnessed the assault.
The next morning, the victim took her children to a safe location before heading to work. She later went to a hospital for an examination. She said doctors placed her on medication.
Johnson texted the victim twice the day after, the complaint states.
The first text said, "Hey is everything okay? I kind of blacked out last night after smoking that." The next text read, "Well I hope I did nothing wrong."
After going to the hospital, the victim called police, fearing Johnson was still at her home. Officers found him asleep in the living room, the complaint states. He was arrested and declined to comment.
If convicted of the sexual assault charges, Johnson faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and/or a $40,000 fine for each count.
