A sophomore was charged with third-degree sexual assault Friday after he allegedly assaulted a 19-year-old woman at a prominent Sixth Street Southeast apartment complex Oct. 10.
Jason Richard Klug was released Monday and is not allowed to have contact with the alleged victim.
According to the criminal complaint, the victim planned on spending the night in Klug’s bedroom because she was drunk and he said he would sleep on a futon. She told police she considered Klug a good friend at the time.
Klug entered the room, locked the door and sexually assaulted the woman, the complaint said.
After the alleged assault, Klug left the room and the victim called her boyfriend.
The victim told police Klug then re-entered, assaulted her and stopped, saying, “Oh my God, I’m really drunk. What am I doing?”
The victim told police she was assaulted a third time after returning to get a coat she left in Klug’s bedroom.
Klug is scheduled to appear in court again Nov. 14.
In other police news:
ï An attic fire possibly started by an electrical malfunction has forced four people on Cole Avenue Southeast to look for a new place to live.
University senior Nick Lindgren said he noticed smoke at about noon Thursday on the second floor of his rented house.
Lindgren said his roommate called and asked him to make sure the refrigerator in his bedroom was functioning properly.
“I go there and I say, ‘God it smells like smoke. Does somebody have their heater on?'”
He said that yelling awoke his roommate, Eric Svedahl.
“(Svedahl) came out of his room; I said Jesus – because his room reeked – because you could actually see some of the haze in there.
“I go in his room; I said ‘Something’s on fire.’ I look all over and up at the corner of the ceiling and it’s turning black and smoke is starting to filter through.”
Lindgren said he wonders what would have happened to Svedahl had their roommate not asked Lindgren to check on the refrigerator.
He said he called 911 and in 10 minutes seven fire trucks showed up.
Svedahl said water damage from the fire hoses destroyed roughly $4,000 worth of electronics and guitars. His roommates reported minimal property damage; one computer might have been destroyed.
Now that the top floor is covered in water and insulation, Svedahl said the four have been staying across the street with a friend and plan on moving out soon.
Lindgren said he’s getting little sympathy from his property manager.
“She was just rolling her eyes at us because we didn’t have renters insurance,” he said. “All she said was, ‘Call me if there’s anything reasonable I can do’ – I’m like, reasonable … what isn’t reasonable about this whole situation?”
Aloida Zaragosa, the property manager, said she doesn’t know whether the tenants will receive any money for the damage.
“I don’t know. I don’t know that they would. I don’t know that they are. I don’t know that they’re not,” she said.
ï Rochelle Scholz, manager of the Borealis Caffe in Dinkytown, refused to hand over money to a robber after he repeatedly told her to give him money early Monday morning.
Scholz, 22, said after giving the thief a bag, he told her to open the register and put the money in the bag.
He said he had a gun and held up a towel that covered his wrist and hand. The restaurant was nearly empty, but the man whispered, Scholz said.
“He was not so much calm as he was shy and soft spoken. He was pleading,” she said.
But Scholz said she didn’t think the man had a weapon and refused to give him anything. The thief became frustrated, she said, and began to count down from five.
When the man reached one, Scholz said, she didn’t want to challenge him anymore and popped open the register.
She immediately tried to stop the man. She tried to pick up the phone, scream and stop the man from taking the money, but the thief got away with about $300, Scholz said.
She threw coffee at the man as he ran away. A co-worker who had been sleeping upstairs awoke and ran outside with Scholz, but they didn’t see which direction he ran.
Scholz said she’s worried that she made an enemy: “This guy’s been around the Borealis and Dinkytown and I don’t want to have to run into him.”
ï Thieves stole $16,600 worth of mouse cages from the Animal Resource Center in the Phillips-Wangensteen building, according to a police report. That includes 196 small mouse cages, as well as 300 regular mouse cages. Police are investigating.