The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

August 13, 2008

Sex offender arrested again

By Dan Nienaber

MANKATO — A Mankato man who recently finished a jail sentence this spring for sexually assaulting two teen girls in April 2007 is facing a new rape charge.

William Deangelo Kinnard, 21, has been charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct and first-degree burglary for allegedly breaking into an apartment and raping a woman who was sleeping there.

A man called police at 9:12 a.m. April 18 and reported finding a man hiding in a closet in his apartment. The man in the closet was later identified as Kinnard.

The apartment resident said he casually knew Kinnard and asked him to help earlier that morning when he was moving some items. The man then left the apartment and thought Kinnard also had left.

When the man returned later, he found Kinnard in a closet in his bedroom. The man’s girlfriend had been sleeping, fully dressed, on a bed in the room. She had passed out after drinking the night before, he said.

The woman’s pants and underwear had been removed when the man returned to his apartment. After finding Kinnard in the closet, the man woke his girlfriend and asked if she knew how her clothes had been removed. She said she didn’t know what happened.

A DNA test later showed sperm on the woman’s underwear could belong to Kinnard, the criminal complaint said. The test results showed Kinnard and 8 percent of the population matched the DNA.

Kinnard’s prison sentence had been stayed and he was ordered to serve 180 days in jail after being convicted of two felony sex assault charges for assaulting the teens.

During Kinnard’s sentencing, Assistant Blue Earth County Attorney Michael Hanson said he was concerned Kinnard would offend again because he was saying his victims in that case had consented.

After being released, Kinnard was arrested for a probation violation for the new allegations. District Court Judge Norbert Smith ordered him to serve another 180 days in jail because he had admitted to using alcohol and drugs.

Smith said, at that point, there wasn’t enough evidence to send Kinnard to prison for the violation. Smith had sentenced Kinnard to consecutive prison terms of 36 months and 18 months, or a total of more than four years, after Kinnard pleaded guilty to the earlier charges.

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