A 19-year-old Anoka man who served only months in prison after kidnapping an elderly man in February at Burnsville Center is back behind bars facing time for a crime spree that occurred immediately after he was released, court records show.

Timothy R. Bedford stole a car and is being investigated for allegedly raping a teen acquaintance within days after he got out of jail in October. On Tuesday, Hennepin County authorities also unsealed a complaint charging him with failing to register as a predatory offender as required for his kidnapping conviction.

For now, Bedford is in St. Cloud state prison after admitting he stole the car in Dakota County following his release for the kidnapping.

Bedford was convicted in March of kidnapping a 79-year-old man at Burnsville Center during a carjacking on Feb. 2. Bedford drove around the area with the man in the back seat, then returned to the center and went inside the mall with the man's wallet and keys. The victim, who was not injured, called police, and Burnsville police arrested Bedford at the mall.

He later pleaded guilty to kidnapping and simple robbery, and a theft charge was dismissed. On March 2, he was sentenced to 33 months for the offenses, with one year of that time to be served in prison. He received credit for 28 days served previously and was placed on 10 years' probation and ordered to register as a predatory offender.

Dakota County District Judge Kathryn Messerich stayed 21 months of the prison sentence, which is not unusual for this type of crime.

With credit for "good time," Bedford was released from prison on Oct. 9 after serving two-thirds of his one-year sentence.

Deputies immediately took him into custody and transported him to the Anoka County jail to face charges for a minor crime there. He was released from that jail on Oct. 12, records show.

Alleged rape of 17-year-old

The next day, he allegedly committed the rape in Bloomington.

In a criminal complaint posted Tuesday by the Hennepin County attorney's office, alleging that Bedford failed to file as a predatory offender, the office notes that Bedford is under investigation for the alleged rape of a 17-year-old acquaintance.

The girl told Bloomington Police that Bedford had forced her to have sex with him while they were alone in her boyfriend's car on Oct. 13. During a struggle, she told police, she suffered injuries to her knuckles and right elbow, which were bleeding.

On Oct. 20, in Dakota County, Bedford allegedly stole a car belonging to another acquaintance. He crashed the car the next day in Anoka, was caught, and subsequently was charged in Dakota County District Court with auto theft.

He was back in the Dakota County jail by Oct. 23, and in November he pleaded guilty to the car theft and was sentenced to 15 months. He was ordered to serve that term concurrently with the 21-month stayed sentence for the kidnapping.

After he was jailed in Dakota County, Bloomington police used a search warrant to take a DNA sample from Bedford in connection with the alleged rape, and they seized from the Dakota County jail the blue jeans and underwear he was wearing when arrested for the auto theft. The clothing was believed to be what he was wearing at the time of the alleged rape.

Police also impounded the car owned by the girl's boyfriend for testing. Possible rape charges are under review by Hennepin County prosecutors, they said Tuesday.

Bedford was homeless and believed to have only the clothes he was wearing when arrested in October, court documents show.

Joy Powell • 952-882-9017