Lesbian gang raped in possible hate crime

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Assault on woman a hate crime, police say

When the man paid her unwanted attention, the Hudson, Wis., woman told him she was a lesbian.

But Dustan Charles Warren, 27, didn’t stop, the woman testified Thursday.

She said he punched her in the face, held her to the floor and threatened to rape and kill her last month after he made obscene comments about her sexual orientation.

Warren, of Hudson, appeared at a preliminary hearing Thursday to face hate-crime accusations. He was charged last week in St. Croix County Circuit Court with attempted second-degree sexual assault, aggravated battery, second-degree reckless endangerment, false imprisonment and misdemeanor bail jumping, according to a criminal complaint.

The St. Croix County district attorney’s office has added a hate-crime modifier to the charges, saying Warren “intentionally selected the person against whom the crime was committed in whole or in part because of the defendant’s belief or perception regarding the sexual orientation of that person,” according to the charges.

“This case is the epitome of violence against the GLBT community,” said Rebecca Waggoner Kloek, who manages the anti-violence program at OutFront Minnesota, a group that advocates equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. “It’s wonderful that law enforcement and the criminal justice system recognize this as a hate crime.”

The 35-year-old woman testified at the hearing that Warren’s obscene comments came after he arrived uninvited to a small party at her

Hudson home the night of Nov. 26. She said Warren was touching her back during the evening — which she described as groping — and at some point, she told him she was a lesbian.

After others left early Nov. 27, she was alone with Warren. At some point, she woke up with him on top of her, pinning her down with his knees, she said. Warren struck her and told her that he was going to do whatever he wanted to do.

“He wanted to have sex with me,” the woman testified. The Pioneer Press does not generally name the alleged victims of sexual assaults.

She earlier told Hudson police Warren punched her in the face and threw her to the floor, according to the complaint. He held a knife to her abdomen while he hit her, choked her and threatened to rape and kill her. She told police that he said, “If you tell anyone, I will kill you.”

She struggled with Warren and was willing to fight to the death before he could rape her, she testified.

A man who had been at the party found Warren on top of the woman, pushed him off and struggled with him. The woman testified she was bleeding from one eye and had bruises on her body from the alleged assault.

The woman said that on the night of the alleged assault, Warren was intoxicated and vomiting in her bathroom. She said she drank two mixed drinks that night.

Warren told police he was not at the woman’s home at the time of the alleged assault. He said he had been intoxicated and lost in a wooded area of Bayport, Minn., and did not return to Hudson until 3 a.m., according to the complaint.

Warren could not be reached for comment. He was in the St. Croix County Jail on Thursday. Bond had been set earlier at $100,000.

Waggoner Kloek said incidents of hate and bias crimes are on the rise in the Midwest and Minnesota saw an increase of 135 percent over the past year of hate crimes reported against GLBT people and those perceived to be GLBT. She said there are no numbers for Wisconsin because the state does not have an anti-violence program for the GLBT community.

Andy Rathbun can be reached at 651-228-2121.