Charges: Man Linked To 2003 St. Paul Sex Assault, Burglary Through DNA

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A 33-year-old man has been linked to the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl in St. Paul back in 2003, according to charges filed Thursday in Ramsey County Court.

Eric John Lavik has been charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct and first-degree burglary in connection with the June 2003 case.

According to the charges, St. Paul police were called at about 2:02 a.m. on June 28, 2003, to a two-story home on the 1300 block of Randolph Avenue on a report of criminal sexual conduct. When officers arrived, they spoke with a 15-year-old victim who said she was sleeping on the second floor of the home when she woke up to a man in her bedroom.

According to the complaint, she told officers the man asked her if she wanted to live or die. She said she wanted to live, and he told her to turn over and lay on her stomach. He asked her if she had any money, and she directed him to $25 in her purse.

Lavik was wearing a mask and asked her age. She said she was 15 and he told her if she gave him oral sex, nobody else in the home would be hurt. The complaint states he asked her if she had ever done that, and she said no.

The complaint states he then pulled up his shirt and pulled his pants down. He put a blanket over her head and forced her to perform oral sex on him. He then told her to lay on her back and continued to perform inappropriate sexual acts on her. He told her if she told anyone that it happened, he would be back to get her.

He then left the residence, and she immediately told her parents what happened. The complaint states her parents were sleeping during the entire incident.

Police processed the scene, and DNA taken from semen on the comforter where the incident happened matches Lavik. The complaint states there were multiple contacts between St. Paul police and the victim in the area where the sexual assault and the burglary took place. Lavik had also been arrested multiple times for trespassing in a church near the victim's residence.

Lavik was also arrested in Michigan in 2014 for larceny.

Authorities say Lavik's current whereabouts are unknown. If convicted, he faces up to 35 years in prison and $65,000 in fines.