Matt Peterson, Austin Daily Herald, Minn. –
A Spring Valley man charged in February 2010 for sexually assaulting a woman who suffers from mental disabilities has changed his plea to guilty.
Jesse Lyle Cleveland, 25 — charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct by force or coercion and third-degree criminal sexual conduct of a victim with mental impairment — signed a petition to enter a guilty plea Monday in Mower County Court. According to a court complaint, the assault happened Feb. 28, 2010. The woman told police she awoke to Cleveland rolling her onto her back in her bed.
Cleveland forced her to have sexual intercourse with him, according to the complaint.
The woman received a sexual assault examination at Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin, and DNA samples taken from the woman matched those taken both from her bedroom and from Cleveland.
During a police interview in September, as the investigation continued, police confronted Cleveland about the DNA match and asked if he wanted to change his initial story. He said, “if anything happened, it was consensual.”
He later agreed that he had lied the first time he spoke with police.
The maximum sentence for Cleveland’s charge is up to 15 years in prison and $30,000 in fines. Cleveland’s sentencing is set for Sept. 14.
