A Minneapolis man who was arrested after St. Paul police issued a public safety alert has been charged with attempted kidnapping, accused of trying to drag a woman out of her apartment window in St. Paul.
Eduart Gomez Ochoa, 27, was charged Monday by the Ramsey County Attorney's Office with first-degree burglary, for entering a building without consent and assaulting a person, and with attempted kidnapping. According to the charges, the alleged kidnapping attempt was meant "to facilitate the commission of the felony of criminal sexual conduct in the fourth degree or flight thereafter."
The incident happened at about 10:20 p.m. Thursday, when officers were called to Como Avenue near Grotto Street. A 21-year-old woman was cooking at her stove. Because of the warm weather, her window was open, though the blinds were down. A man suddenly "appeared with half of his body inside the apartment," a criminal complaint filed Monday states. He grabbed the woman and tried to pull her through the window. She kicked and screamed, and the man let go and left.
Officers noted a resemblance to an earlier case. "Officers recognized a case involving the defendant with a similar modus operandi," the complaint said. The woman later selected Gomez Ochoa from a photo lineup as the man who tried to abduct her, with "80% certainty," according to the complaint.
St. Paul police released a public safety alert about Gomez Ochoa on Friday and asked anyone who saw him or knew where he was to call 911. Shortly before 2 p.m. Saturday, police received a report of a man matching the suspect's description walking near Dale Street and Wheelock Parkway. Officers arrived and took him into custody without incident. His identity was confirmed, and he was booked into the Ramsey County jail.
At a hearing Monday, a judge ordered an evaluation to determine whether Gomez Ochoa has a cognitive impairment or mental illness and whether he is competent to proceed with the case. An attorney for Gomez Ochoa had no comment Monday.
The new charges come on top of several existing cases. In May, Gomez Ochoa was charged in three separate incidents: breaking into a St. Paul apartment and sexually assaulting a 14-year-old, attacking a woman in a Maplewood parking lot and trying to touch her breasts, and grabbing a woman's buttocks in a Maplewood apartment building. Those cases remain ongoing.
Court records show a Hennepin County judge, where Gomez Ochoa had warrants, granted a conditional release on Sept. 30. A warrant was issued for Gomez Ochoa's arrest on Oct. 8 after a failure to appear at a Ramsey County hearing that day. Separately, on Oct. 1, Gomez Ochoa was charged with fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with a March incident in Minneapolis, after a DNA match, according to a criminal complaint. A warrant was issued in that case as well.
