25-year-old Darius Olson-Baker is charged with eight counts of criminal sexual conduct and two counts of first-degree burglary.
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — A Brooklyn Park man is facing multiple felony charges after prosecutors allege he broke into two homes days apart, held women at gunpoint and sexually assaulted them.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County, 25-year-old Darius Olson-Baker is charged with two home invasions that happened less than a week apart in Brooklyn Park.
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In his first court appearance on July 24, he told the judge he didn’t want a public defender and plans to represent himself. He also told the judge he was not guilty and wants a speedy trial.
Olson-Baker reserved bail, which means it will be discussed at the next hearing scheduled on August 17. The prosecutor said he is a significant safety danger and asked for bail to be set at $1 million with conditions, and $700,000 without conditions. The Minnesota Department of Corrections put a hold on him, which means he will remain in custody until his next hearing.
The first incident happened around 5 a.m. on July 17 at a home on the 7600 block of Hampshire Avenue North.
According to the complaint, a woman told police she had returned to bed after using the bathroom when an unknown man walked into her bedroom, pointed a handgun at her and demanded $100.
Prosecutors allege the man searched through her dresser, forced a leg tie into her mouth and pushed her onto the bed before sexually assaulting her. The complaint states the woman grabbed at the suspect’s pocket, where she believed the gun was, before the man punched her. After several minutes of struggling, the complaint alleges the suspect fled the home, and the woman ran to her children’s bedroom and told them to call 911.
Five days later, on July 22, officers responded to another reported burglary at a home on the 7500 block of North Jersey Avenue, approximately two blocks away from the first incident.
According to the complaint, a second woman told investigators she had been sleeping on her living room couch when she woke up to someone touching her chest. She told police a man pointed a handgun at her head, threatened to kill her if she screamed, and forced part of a blanket into her mouth.
According to the complaint, the man eventually left the home.
Investigators wrote in the complaint that the similar descriptions provided by both women led them to focus on Olson-Baker, who they say lived in the same townhome complex as the first victim.
The complaint states Olson-Baker was released from prison on July 7 after serving a sentence for being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm.
According to the complaint, investigators compared Olson-Baker’s DNA with DNA recovered from the leg tie allegedly used during the first attack. The complaint states testing found a DNA mixture that included both the victim and Olson-Baker while excluding more than 99.9% of the world’s population.