Some victims waited years for Minnesota rapist's arrest
Ham Lake man linked to 10 sexual assaults, mostly near U of M campus
Hennepin County prosecutors filed charges Monday against a Ham Lake, Minnesota man suspected in a series of sexual assaults in the Marcy-Holmes and Dinkytown neighborhoods of Minneapolis and elsewhere in the Twin Cities dating back to 2013.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Brooke Morath was in her final semester at the University of Minnesota when she was raped in a Dinkytown parking lot. Five years later, her alleged perpetrator is behind bars.
“It still doesn’t feel real. I hoped for this for so long but never thought it would really happen,” she said.
On Monday, her alleged attacker was charged in a separate sexual assault case. Police say Jory Wiebrand, 34, is implicated in nine other cases and charges in those other cases are pending.
“I’ve known for a long time that I was not the first or the last of his victims,” Morath said Monday. “With the level of violence and skill that was very evident in my own case [I knew] this guy was so dangerous.”
Wiebrand was charged with one count of burglary and one count of criminal sexual conduct Monday.
Charging documents allege Wiebrand broke into an apartment in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood on August 7, 2019 and waited for his victim to come home.
The victim told police she arrived home from work around 4 a.m. and after showering, Wiebrand attacked her in her bedroom. Charging documents claim he put his hand over the victim’s nose and mouth, preventing her from breathing. When she was able to free herself and kick him in the stomach, he sprayed her with pepper spray.
Police say DNA was key in linking Wiebrand to these cases.
“DNA is one of the ways in which we can have a better prosecution rate,” said Kenosha Davenport, Executive Director of the Sexual Violence Center.
Davenport says they are happy to have Wiebrand behind bars, and she hopes for a strong sentence.
“There’s still additional work that has to be done before those victims are able to see justice,” said Davenport. “This is just one part of the justice system and there’s still additional work that has to be done.”
While Morath’s case had yet to be charged Monday, police said to expect more charges in the days and weeks to come.