Man arrested after report of sex assault

Saying that a man she once had a relationship with told her “paybacks are a bitch,” a woman told a Cloquet police officer this past weekend that she was held against her will for 34 hours and repeatedly raped and assaulted by a Scanlon man.

Dennis Michael St. John Jr. was arrested Sunday and charged Tuesday with six felony charges after the alleged victim reported a horrific series of events that began at Black Bear Resort Casino late Friday night.

According to the complaint filed in Minnesota Sixth District Court in Carlton, the alleged victim ran into St. John at the casino and left about 11 p.m. to go to his home. She told police she had been in a previous relationship with St. John. The police report says St. John “convinced” the woman to enter his home. Once inside, the woman told police, he said “paybacks are a bitch” and proceeded to strike the woman and cut off her tank top and undergarments. The woman told police that St. John had a knife and large flashlight and threatened to kill her. She said he sexually assaulted her “six or seven” times into the early morning hours Saturday and then throughout the day and into Sunday morning. The woman escaped, she said, when St. John left a door open after letting out his dog Sunday, driving off in her vehicle. The woman said St. John had told her he would find her and kill her and family members if she escaped.

The woman went to a hospital in Duluth, where police wrote down her statement.

Items of clothing and other objects the woman described were found at St. John’s residence, police reported. He was roused from sleep and then arrested. A search of his pockets revealed the type of underwear the woman described and two knives, the police reported.

The woman, police said, suffered bruises on her face, arms, hands and legs. A check of surveillance footage from the casino showed that the two interacted there.

St. John remained in Carlton County Jail Wednesday with his next hearing scheduled for Aug. 3. He faces three felony counts for first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He was also charged Tuesday with felony counts for kidnapping, threats of violence and assault.