A 22-year-old Minneapolis man raped a woman he met on the light rail last month after inviting her to get off the Green Line train to smoke marijuana, authorities say.
It was the anniversary of her father’s death that day — July 9 — and the woman told police she was “all about feeling numb” under the circumstances. So she agreed when Avery Darius Oliphant approached her on the light rail that evening and asked her if she wanted to smoke, according to the criminal charges.
They got off at either the Raymond and University or Fairview and University exit in St. Paul and headed toward an industrial area with railroad tracks.
They smoked marijuana, and then Oliphant reportedly asked the woman if she would have sex with him.
She told him no, and Oliphant produced a knife and told her she didn’t have a choice, according to the criminal complaint filed in Ramsey County District Court. He is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct causing injury.
Oliphant proceeded to rape her, the woman told officers, and then they started to walk back toward the light rail. At some point, she tried to run and started screaming for help, but Oliphant caught up with her and hit her in the face and choked her, the complaint said.
Then she says he forced her at knifepoint to go inside a Subway to clean herself up. The store was closed at the time, but its door was open.
The woman went into the bathroom, where she texted her boyfriend to alert him to the assault, but Oliphant busted inside and forced her to strip down so he could rape her a second time, the complaint said. The woman saw another chance to escape and ran out of the bathroom naked and screaming.
Officers arrived shortly thereafter.
The 40-year-old woman was taken to a hospital for a sexual assault examination. Medical records from the evaluation show she had multiple abrasions on her body, including both sides of her neck, the complaint said.
Surveillance footage from inside Subway shows her running out of the bathroom naked, the complaint said
Officers were able to pull a photo of the suspect from the footage, and circulated it among area law enforcement.
Oliphant was picked up by police last Friday, and the victim identified him in a six-person line-up, the complaint said.
He denied any involvement in the sexual assault, saying he had been in Chicago on the day in question.
Oliphant declined to provide a DNA sample, so police obtained a search warrant to retrieve one. The results of the test weren’t mentioned in the criminal complaint.
His criminal record includes past convictions for attempted aggravated robbery and theft.
He is expected to make his first appearance on the rape charge Tuesday afternoon. No attorney was listed for him in court records.
