A St. Paul man who walked into an unlocked Merriam Park home while naked and was later confronted by a teen girl and her father has been sentenced to two years of probation.
William Kweku Enin (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
William Kweku Enin, 25, received his sentence Friday in Ramsey County District Court after pleading guilty to first-degree burglary in connection with the incident in the early morning hours of Sept. 1, 2024.
A stayed prison sentence to probation was the presumptive sentence under state guidelines, which take into account the severity of the offense and a defendant’s criminal history. Enin had no prior criminal convictions.
Enin lived less than a mile south of the home he burglarized. He has since moved to California, where he’s been living with his mother and undergoing mental health treatment and “doing well,” his attorney Emma Koski said in court.
According to the criminal complaint, police were dispatched to the home in the 1800 block of Marshall Avenue on a burglary call just after 3:30 a.m. The 16-year-old girl’s father told police she saw a man in her bedroom closet and that she screamed, causing him to apologize and leave her room.
The father heard the girl’s screams and encountered the man downstairs wearing the girl’s clothes. The father asked him what he was doing and he replied, “God called me to come here” and asked why the home’s door had been unlocked, the complaint said.
After the man left, the father saw the man had made food in the kitchen and turned on a TV in the living room.
The father gave police video surveillance footage that shows the man entering the home through the front door naked. He grabbed a towel from the front porch and wrapped it around his waist. He walked through the house before putting on the girl’s clothes.
Enin was arrested the same day — less than a mile away — after he reportedly went inside a car and refused to get out.
One credit shy of graduating
Enin, at his first court appearance, was ordered to undergo a Rule 20.01 evaluation, which is used to determine whether a defendant is capable of communicating with a defense attorney and competent to participate in criminal proceedings. He was found to be competent.
In December, Enin entered a Norgaard plea to the felony charge. Under a Norgaard plea, a defendant says they are unable to remember what happened due to drug use or mental health impairment at the time, but acknowledges there is enough evidence for a jury to convict beyond a reasonable doubt.
Enin appeared for Friday’s sentencing via Zoom from California.
“I would just like to say I take full accountability for everything that happened,” he told Judge Kellie Charles. “And I’m really sorry that this happened.”
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“I see that you were one credit away from a degree from Macalester College,” Charles said.
“Yes, Your Honor,” he replied.
Charles then gave Enin a stay of imposition, meaning the felony conviction will become a misdemeanor if he successfully completes the conditions of probation, which include mental health programming.
“So it’s important that you follow through,” Charles said. “I’ve been following this case for close to two years, and you’ve always shown up and you’re taking your mental health seriously. And I am confident that you’re going to be able to do well on probation.”
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