A 48-year-old man with no permanent address is in custody and facing charges of sexual assault after he sexually groped and kissed a female transit operator last week while she was driving a bus, and then proceeded to taunt her before police arrived, according to charges filed in Hennepin County.
The criminal complaint states that on Monday, April 13, Metro Transit police were dispatched on a report of a sexual assault at the intersection of 77th Street West and Lyndale Avenue South in Richfield, MN. A police scanner incident page on Facebook also posted about the incident after police were dispatched.
When officers arrived, they spoke to a female, the victim, who operates a bus for Metro Transit. She told police that a passenger on the bus, later identified as Casey Valdez Moses, had been on the bus and was acting erratically and making her uneasy.
The driver told police that Moses approached her crossing into the driver’s restricted area while she was driving. Moses then reached and touched her genitals over her clothing, the complaint said.
The driver told Moses to get away from her. He then came back and kissed her on the back of her shirt. The driver explained to police that she had been restricted by her seatbelt when Moses made contact with her and that she was unable to safely operate the bus while he was assaulting her.
A subsequent review of surveillance video corroborated the victim’s account and showed Moses kissing the victim on the back of her shirt and touching her with his hands at least four different times, including touching her genital area twice over her clothing.
After the assault, Moses paced outside the bus and taunted the victim through the window before he was picked up by another bus, the complaint said. Moses was picked up by police a short time later and was booked into Hennepin County Jail. Both the jail record and the criminal complaint list “no permanent address” for Moses.
Moses has been charged with three felony counts: fourth- and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct and interfering with a transit operator. The complaint also states that authorities are considering other charges in the matter.
The criminal complaint states that Moses could face up to ten years in prison if convicted on the most serious count of fourth-degree CSC. However, the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Grid for Sex Offenders presumes a stayed sentence and probation for that level of offense for someone with a low or zero criminal history score.
According to court records, Moses has a gross misdemeanor conviction for false information to police which would leave him with a negligible criminal history score for calculating sentencing if convicted on any of the new charges.
Moses has been granted a public defender and remains in custody on $30,000 bail. His next hearing is scheduled for May 12.
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Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota
Crime Watch MN
Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
