U groping suspect acknowledged attacks, charges say

Star Tribune

Last update: February 5, 2009 - 11:54 PM

A 41-year-old Minneapolis man has told police that he sexually assaulted 10 University of Minnesota female students in recent weeks, grabbing them because he is attracted to female buttocks, according to charges filed today.

Phillip W. Acosta is charged with two counts of fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct, gross misdemeanors, in connection with two incidents on campus Tuesday night.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Acosta remains in the Hennepin County jail held pending the possible filing of additional or more serious charges. Acosta was arrested Tuesday on the university's West Bank campus shortly after a woman reported being grabbed as she walked near the McNamara Alumni Center around 8:30 p.m.

As the officers arrested Acosta, dispatchers told them about another reported groping that had happened about 20 minutes earlier on Washington Avenue SE. in front of Moos Tower.

Both victims identified Acosta as their attacker.

Lt. Nancy Dunlap, head of the Minneapolis Police Department's sex crime unit, said Wednesday that Acosta has a minor criminal history, "but nothing that would suggest this kind of crime."

Acosta has no known affiliation with the university.

All of the assaults took place on the university's Minneapolis campus or on nearby sidewalks, starting on Dec. 9.

PAUL WALSH AND ABBY SIMONS

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