A man accused of roughing up two senior citizens during a pair of burglaries on the same North End area street in St. Paul on Dec. 21 now faces charges in a similar home invasion in the Highland Park area.

Michael L. Pye, 53, admitted to police that he "robbed and tied up a lady" in the 1100 block of St. Paul Avenue on Dec. 7, according to a complaint filed against him this week in Ramsey County District Court.

The complaint alleges that after he forced his way into the woman's home, Pye threw the 81-year-old onto the floor, and then again onto her bed, before he tied her hands with shoelaces and made off with jewelry. He is charged with first-degree burglary and kidnapping. The woman was uninjured.

On Dec. 21, in the second of two burglaries in the 1000 block of Barrett Street, Pye allegedly tied up an 84-year-old woman and her 3-year-old great-granddaughter. The charges in that case state he pushed the great-grandmother to the floor three times.

ANTHONY LONETREE