MINNESOTA — A Shoreview man pleaded guilty to stalking and criminal sexual conduct in a case that turned on photos and videos he had of the assaults, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Monday.
Jeffrey Eldred, 33, pleaded guilty Monday morning to a single count of stalking between Dec. 1, 2017 and Nov. 30, 2018. He also pleaded guilty to five counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct. Prosecutors dismissed one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Sentencing was set for Sept. 30.
Eldred also was charged with attempted third-degree criminal sexual conduct in Ramsey County and his attorney announced he will plead guilty to the Ramsey County charge, probably on Aug. 28.
According to the criminal complaint and his answers to questions during his guilty plea, Eldred had an intermittent relationship with a Bloomington woman from late 2017 through most of 2018. On several occasions, Eldred was at her home and waited until she was passed out and physically helpless before sexually assaulting her.
Eldred acknowledged that the victim did not know he was videotaping these acts. She only found out about the sexual acts and the videotapes when investigators tracked her down and showed the footage to her.
The stalking charge involved feeling terrorized and Eldred admitted that she would have felt that way not knowing there were videos out there until much later.
As part of his guilty plea, Eldred admitted to factors that will allow the judge to sentence him to more prison time than called for under the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines. Those factors were the multiple penetrations and cruelty.
Eldred’s lawyer said he would be seeking a lesser sentence than what the guidelines would recommend. Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Kali Gardner said prosecutors have not yet determined what they will ask for, but will await the results of the pre-sentence investigation of Eldred, including a psycho-sexual exam by a court psychologist.
The cases against Eldred began last fall when a woman who stayed overnight at his Shoreview home looked on his computer and found at least 40 videos of him engaging in sex with different women as they slept. She took photos of the videos and turned them over to the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office. They were eventually able to identify the Bloomington woman and a woman for the Ramsey County case.
Last fall, the detectives said they hoped to identify some of the other women in the videos, but so far no other charges have been brought against Eldred.
