Charges filed against man accused of raping woman, stealing her car in Minneapolis

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

Court records show Eliezer Rodriguez, 31, is charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count each of kidnapping and first-degree carjacking in connection with the June 7 assault.

According to a criminal complaint, the victim told police a man approached her with a knife on a walking trail along Cedar Lake. He threw her into the woods, choked her and held the knife to her. The assailant then raped her while threatening to stab her.

After the assault, the man said he “needed a ride,” walked the woman back to her car and forced her to drive him around. They ended up in a parking ramp, where he assaulted her again. Afterward, he made her drive to McDonald’s on East Lake Street and order him food, the complaint states.

The victim told investigators that after the stop at McDonald’s, they went to the intersection of 28th Street and Colfax Avenue South, at which point the man took out a syringe and said, “he had one more thing to do,” the charging document states. He moved toward 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 had raped her and tried to drug her. Soon after, the man was seen driving away in the victim’s car.

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

The next day, Minnesota state troopers located the victim’s stolen car at a rest stop along Interstate 94 between Fergus Falls and Dalton. Someone had reported to law enforcement that the person driving the car was acting “suspiciously” and was asking people for money or a ride, the complaint states.

The car’s driver had left the rest stop by the time officers arrived, but they later found a person matching the victim’s description — including the teardrop tattoo — and transported him for a medical examination. The man, identified as Rodriguez, had scratch marks on his biceps and upper torso that appeared to be defensive wounds.

Later, Rodriguez was brought in for a photo lineup, and the victim said she was “one thousand percent sure” he was the man who attacked her.

Rodriguez’s initial court appearance was on Tuesday, and a judge ordered him to remain in custody on $500,000 bail. His next court hearing is scheduled for July 9.