Charges filed against man who allegedly raped a woman and stole her car in Minneapolis

A man is facing multiple charges after he allegedly raped a woman at knifepoint near Cedar Lake in Minneapolis, forced her to buy him something at McDonald’s and then stole her car.

According to court documents, 31-year-old Eliezer Rodriguez is charged with two counts of first-degree sexual abuse and one count each of first-degree kidnapping and first-degree auto theft in connection with the June 7 attack.

According to a criminal complaint, the victim told police that a man attacked her with a knife on a hiking trail along Cedar Lake. He threw her into the woods, choked her, and held the knife to her chest. The attacker then raped her and threatened to stab her.

After the attack, the man said he “needed a ride,” accompanied the woman to her car and forced her to drive him around. They ended up in a parking garage, where he attacked her again. He then forced her to drive to McDonald’s on East Lake Street and order him food, the charges say.

The victim told investigators that after stopping at McDonald’s, they drove to the intersection of 28th Street and Colfax Avenue South, where the man pulled out a syringe and said “he had something to do,” the indictment states. He approached her with the syringe, and the woman jumped out of the car and fled.

A witness stopped the woman as she was running away and asked if she needed help. The victim said the man raped her and tried to give her drugs. Shortly afterward, the man was seen driving away in the victim’s car.

When police arrived, the victim described the man’s clothing and noticed that he had a teardrop tattoo under his left eye.

The next day, Minnesota State Troopers found the victim’s stolen car at a rest stop on Interstate 94 between Fergus Falls and Dalton. Someone had reported to authorities that the driver of the car was acting “suspiciously” and asking people for money or a ride, the complaint states.

When officers arrived, the driver of the car had already left the rest stop. However, they later found a person who matched the victim’s description – including the teardrop tattoo – and took him for a medical evaluation. The man, identified as Rodriguez, had scratch marks on his biceps and torso consistent with defensive injuries.

Rodriguez was later brought in for a photo posed and the victim said she was “100 percent sure” he was the man who attacked her.

Rodriguez’s first court date was Tuesday, and a judge ordered him held on $500,000 bail. His next court hearing is scheduled for July 9.