Charges: St. Paul Man Breaks Into Woman's Apartment, Keeps Her There Forcefully
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A St. Paul man is facing charges after allegedly breaking into a woman's apartment and forcefully keeping her there when she tried to leave.
According to the criminal complaint, St. Paul police responded to an apartment on 6th Street East on Tuesday morning on a report of a man trying to enter an apartment.
The caller told police she saw a man tampering with a door. She also heard a woman screaming for help and saw the man dragging a woman around the corner of the hallway.
Officers found wood shavings on the floor outside the apartment and pry marks on the locking mechanism.
When they entered the apartment, police found a man later identified as George Edward Lowe, 45, on the couch smoking a cigarette and drinking a beer, the complaint states.
A woman was also on the couch, crying and hyperventilating. She told police she did not know Lowe.
The woman told police she heard and saw the man trying to break into her apartment. She called her mother in her bedroom. When she left the bedroom, Lowe was on the couch.
She ran into the hallway, where Lowe caught her and dragged her by her neck back into the apartment, the complaint states.
Lowe told the woman he wanted money and gems. After giving him $40, she tried to run again. Lowe again caught her and dragged her by her body back to the couch. Police arrived shortly after that.
Lowe told police his girlfriend let him into the apartment and said he never hurt her. He later admitted to police that he broke into the apartment and dragged her back when she tried to run, the complaint states.
When police asked what would have happened if they had not come, Lowe said, "I was going to finish drinking my beer and we probably would have made love."
According to the complaint, Lowe told police he raped another woman in the building and had a similar incident with a third woman.
Lowe has prior convictions for robbery, armed robbery, auto theft, theft, criminal sexual conduct in the fifth degree and forgery. He had two prior incidents with police in October, both assaults involving women.
Lowe faces kidnapping, aggravated robbery and burglary charges.
