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MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - A former University of Minnesota student has been charged with raping two women during college parties two weekends in a row. Daniel Drill-Mellum, 22, was arrested by University of Minnesota police on Christmas Eve for two alleged rapes that occurred last year. He has been charged that with first, second and third-degree criminal sexual conduct in one case and first and second-degree criminal sexual conduct in another case.
A pair of criminal complaints said the first rape happened at a Halloween party in 2014 in the laundry room of the Sigma Phi Epsilon frat house and the second at his apartment the following weekend.
Drill-Mellum graduated from Chaska High School and was a U of M student from 2012-2014, where he was enrolled in the Carlson School of Management. His father is a lecturer at the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health.
An 18-year-old student told police she met Drill-Mellum at a party at Sigma Phi Epsilon at 400 10th Street SE on Oct. 31, 2014. He led her into the laundry room where they began to kiss. She tried to stop him while he pushed her against a wall then he tried to force her to perform oral sex. When she turned away and tried to get off her knees, he pushed her to the floor and said “I know you want this” and “You’re so turned on right now” and raped her. She told her roommate what happened the following morning and was treated at the University of Minnesota Medical Center. She did not report the rape to police a the time.
She learned Drill-Mellum had sexually assaulted another woman the following year. She reported her case to campus police after learning he had been “trespassed” from the U and was seen at a party on campus on Nov. 18, 2015. The University of Minnesota has confirmed to Fox 9 that Drill-Mellum was banned from the University of Minnesota campus in 2014 for a period of 5 years.
The other complaint says the second rape happened on Nov. 8, 2014 in his apartment room at 1015 University Avenue SE. A 19-year-old woman said she met “Dan” at the Freund Haus Apartments, where he asked if she’d leave the party and go to his apartment for more alcohol. Once inside, they kissed, he tried to take off her clothes, she told him no and said she wanted to go back to the party.
“When the Defendant persisted, the victim provided the Defendant with oral sex, hoping that it would only take a few minutes and then the Defendant would allow her to return to the party,” the complaint said.
She told him she did not want to have intercourse but he ignored her and “told her she would like it,” and left her with abrasions and lacerations.
Drill-Mellum made his first court appearance on Monday in Hennepin County District Court. His bail was set at $10,000 in cash and has been forced to surrender his passport. He had been studying in Australia and was arrested on his flight home to Minneapolis for the holidays and his sister's wedding.
EDITOR'S NOTE - A previous version of this story indicated the second alleged assault occurred at the FloCo Apartments at 1000 University Avenue SE. While that was the location of the police response and initial meeting between the victim and officers, no assault occurred at that complex.