Trial Begins For Man Accused Of Assaulting Drunk Women
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The fate of a Shoreview man accused of trolling bars and sexually assaulting drunk women rests in the hands of a jury.
Maksud Mahbub, 36, is charged with five different counts of criminal sexual conduct. In court, prosecutors laid out a pattern of sexual assault, while the defense claimed Mahbub was unfairly labeled as a sexual predator.
Both sides agree that Mahbub spent plenty of time at bars in the Minneapolis warehouse district, trying to pick up drunk women. What he did with them afterwards is what's in dispute.
Mahbub is accused of raping two women and sexually touching three others, all after picking them up at bars.
Prosecutors say he offered to give them rides home. But instead, they say he took them to his Shoreview townhome, took their cell phone batteries so they couldn't call for help and took advantage of them.
They say the first victim identified him by grabbing a piece of mail. And they found more women by checking records from the cab company he used to send them home.
Mahbud disputes four incidents and says the other one was consensual. His attorney painted a picture of shoddy police work, with unrecorded interviews and missing notes. Attorney Earl Gray said the lead investigator searched for extra victims because the first case wasn't strong enough.
"Instead of lookinig for hard evidence," Gray said, "she went out to slander my client and try to get him depicted as a predator, by taking cases that don't exist, hunting down other cases."
The jury got the case Tuesday afternoon, and was instructed to treat each count individually, not as part of a pattern.
