A Ramsey County probation officer’s random check this month of a Level 3 sex offender led to a disturbing discovery in his St. Paul apartment: a naked and unconscious woman in a bathtub with multiple injuries, according to charges filed Friday.
Officers soon arrived at the West Side apartment of 60-year-old Anthony DeWalt and found the woman unresponsive with a weak pulse. An officer began CPR and administered Narcan, the medication that can reverse an opioid overdose. She had bruises throughout her body and was missing a nipple, which appeared to have been cut or torn off, the criminal complaint says.
Anthony DeWalt (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
Paramedics arrived on scene and transported her to the hospital. A St. Paul police spokeswoman said Friday the woman is in her 40s.
DeWalt is on intensive supervised release for a 2005 first-degree criminal sexual conduct conviction in Wright County. A 17-year-old girl testified at his trial that he dragged her from a porch during a late-night gathering in Rockford, Minn., and violently attacked her, according to court records. She was ultimately able to flee and ran for help. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2009.
Court records show he was convicted twice for assaulting a corrections employee while he was imprisoned. Later, while at the Wright County Jail, he was convicted of fraud after he sent his SNAP benefits card from the jail to his sister in Illinois. He was released from custody in 2023.
DeWalt’s criminal history includes a murder conviction in Illinois in 1987, according to Friday’s complaint.
Probation officer’s visit
The complaint gives the following account of the Aug. 5 incident:
DeWalt’s probation officer visited his apartment, located in the 500 block of Stryker Avenue, just after 3 p.m. He answered the door naked, and the probation officer told him to put on clothes. DeWalt closed the door, and returned wearing boxer briefs. Blood was on his chest.
The probation officer stepped inside the apartment, “where it appeared another person was present,” the complaint states. DeWalt has several conditions as part of his probation, including no visitors at his residence without preapproval from his probation officer.
The probation officer told DeWalt to have the other person come out, to which he responded that his friend was in the bathtub and unable to do so.
The probation officer glanced into DeWalt’s bedroom and saw a black knife with blood on it. A pipe, commonly used to smoke methamphetamine, was on the end of the couch near the bathroom. When the probation officer asked DeWalt if he had used meth, he didn’t answer.
The probation officer had DeWalt open the bathroom door and saw the woman in the bathtub. Cold water was running from the faucet.
No one else was in the apartment.
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When officers arrived at the apartment, DeWalt refused to let them inside through the locked door, while repeatedly yelling, “I’m ready for you.” Officers forced open the door and he raised his hands as if he was preparing to fight, the complaint says.
The woman was intubated at the hospital, and medical staff believed she “may have been sexually assaulted due to the injuries to her body,” the complaint states.
A sexual assault examination revealed she had suffered multiple injuries, including extensive bruising to the labia majora, groin, buttocks, breasts and upper chest; abrasions to both sides of her neck “consistent with bite marks” and lacerations to both nipples also consistent with bite marks and “inconsistent with the use of a knife, the complaint says.
Forensic swabs were collected during the exam and have been submitted to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for testing and analysis; results are pending.
The woman began to regain consciousness during the examination. She later spoke with police, saying her chest and arms hurt but did not know the extent of her injuries. She had no memory of the alleged assault or the events leading up to it.
Said she was a friend
Police spoke with DeWalt on scene. He said the woman was a friend who stopped by his apartment from time to time. He said she arrived at his place about 2 p.m. that day and wasn’t feeling well so she got in the bathtub. At one point he thought she was having an asthma attack, he said.
As police were talking with DeWalt, his probation officer obtained an arrest warrant for him based on the alleged probation violations, including possession of a dangerous weapon, possession of narcotics and the unauthorized visitor.
Later, in an interview at the jail, DeWalt said the woman was a friend who helped him clean and cook, and they had no sexual involvement. Before police arrived, he said, she had been at his place for an hour or two. She went to use the bathroom. After a period of time, he checked on her and found her unresponsive, he said, adding he thought she was dying so he poured water on her to revive her.
He underwent a suspect sexual assault examination on Aug. 8; forensic samples are pending.
During a search of his apartment, a breast nipple with jagged edges was located in a bucket with a mop in the kitchen. Blood smears were discovered on multiple areas of a mattress in the bedroom, along with a knife. Fentanyl and cocaine in two clear baggies were found in his shoe by his bed.
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The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged DeWalt with second-degree sexual assault and first-degree assault causing great bodily harm.
At a first appearance on the charges, Judge Reynaldo Aligada Jr. denied a request for a conditional release from jail. He set bail at $200,000, adding he considered the nature and circumstances of the allegations, his prior criminal history “and the fact that Mr. DeWalt appears to have been on supervision at the time of these allegations.”
DeWalt, who remained jailed Friday, is due back in court Sept. 10. A message seeking comment on the charges was left with his public defender assigned to the case.
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