A Ham Lake man has been charged in two home invasions in which women were assaulted and charges in additional cases are expected, perhaps late this week, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Monday.
Jory Wiebrand, 34, was charged with first-degree burglary and criminal predatory conduct in a June 2, 2019 break-in. Wiebrand also was charged with first-degree criminal sexual assault and first-degree burglary assault in an Aug. 7 crime.
Wiebrand is suspected in at least 10 total cases between 2013 and 2020.
“These charges are the result of excellent police work by a number of agencies and we expect to file charges in additional cases soon,” Freeman said. “Until last week, Mr. Wiebrand’s DNA was not on file with any police agency, so developing a fingerprint and getting a match from an earlier, unrelated arrest allowed police to identify him as a suspect and seek a search warrant to obtain his DNA.While we need to prove his guilt in court, if we are successful, we will seek an enhanced sentence so he will be unable to terrorize women for a long time.”
According to the criminal complaints, a woman was sleeping in her home in the 800 block of Fifth Street Southeast on June 2 when she was awakened by a man who put a hand over her mouth and another around her neck. The woman fought against him and he eventually fled out the front door, taking the woman’s wallet with cash and credit cards.
Police found a garbage can pushed up underneath a window to the woman’s apartment. The glass was broken and police gathered some of the glass and testing revealed Wiebrand’s fingerprint, the complaint states.
On Aug. 7, in the 700 block of Fourth Street Southeast, about two blocks from the June attack, a woman returned home from work in the early morning. About 4 a.m., she took a shower and as she walked into her bedroom Wiebrand appeared and put one hand over her nose and mouth making it hard to breathe and the other hand across her chest, according to the complaint. He pushed her onto the bed and sexually assaulted her.
The woman fought him and at one point, kicked him in the stomach. He reacted by spraying pepper spray in her face. She continued to fight and he fled, the complaint states. She provided a description of Wiebrand and a sex assault examination provided DNA which eventually was compared to Wiebrand’s. He could not be excluded, but up to 99.99998 percent of the human population could be.
Wiebrand is suspected in 10 total cases between 2013 and 2020 in the same Minneapolis neighborhoods and in Anoka County, according to the complaint.
