Prior Lake grad pleads 'not guilty' to alleged rape at Mankato party

Prior Lake American

A 2016 Prior Lake High School graduate will face a jury trial on July 17 after he pleaded not guilty in Blue Earth County District Court Feb. 21 to an alleged rape at a Mankato party.

Donte Zemaitis-Thomas, 19, is charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct and false imprisonment, both felonies in Blue Earth County Court, according to a criminal complaint.

A warrant for his arrest was issued Oct. 23 and he was arrested by Mankato police and booked into Blue Earth County Jail on Nov. 1.

According to the criminal complaint:

• On Oct. 19, a Mankato Department of Public Safety officer was dispatched to the Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato to investigate a possible sexual assault. The victim told the officer she'd been forced to have sex with someone.

• A witness told the officer that she went into the bathroom and found the victim "hysterical" on the floor.

• The victim told the witness a male from the party she knew only as "Donte" had allegedly raped her. The witness also saw a ripped condom wrapper on the floor. Another witness was friends with a man who knew Zemaitis-Thomas and said he had dropped Zemaitis-Thomas off at a residence hall at Minnesota State University in Mankato.

• The victim told police she went to the bathroom and as she went to leave, Zemaitis-Thomas allegedly pushed her into the bathroom and raped her. She told police she told him "no" multiple times and tried to get away. At one point, the victim pushed him away and said Zemaitis-Thomas "got mad."

• The victim told police that Zemaitis-Thomas ordered her to stay in the bathroom and then left.

• Mankato police then called Minnesota State University in Mankato, but Zemaitis-Thomas was not listed as a student. His driver license had a Prior Lake address, so the police then called the Prior Lake Police Department. The department had an updated address for Zemaitis-Thomas in Rochester.

• Zemaitis-Thomas was arrested last year in Arizona for burglary, according to Pinal County court records.

Zemaitis-Thomas faces up to 25 years in prison and $50,000 in fines for a maximum sentence for the two counts of criminal sexual misconduct and three years and $5,000 maximum sentence for the false imprisonment charge.

The pre-trial will be June 18. The jury trial is set for four days.