Registered Offender Charged With Raping Woman in Moorhead Home

MOORHEAD – A Moorhead man who is required to register as a predatory offender faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted of raping a woman in his home Sunday.

Jesse Lee Paskey, 28, was charged with felony first-degree criminal sexual conduct Tuesday in Clay County District Court.

According to the charging documents:

The 22-year-old victim told police she met Paskey Sunday outside the Empire Bar in Fargo and hung out with him and his roommate until they went to Paskey’s residence at 1409 9th Ave. S. in Moorhead.

The victim told police she fell asleep in Paskey’s bedroom and woke up to him removing her clothes. She said she tried to grab her clothes but Paskey threw her on her stomach, strangled her with his right arm across her neck and sexually assaulted her.

She told police that as Paskey drove her back to Fargo, she texted a friend that she’d been raped and told the friend to meet them at Dempsey’s bar.

Fargo police later arrested Paskey at the bar and took him to the Cass County Jail, where he told a Moorhead detective he didn’t know anyone by the victim’s name and that she hadn’t been at his place earlier in the evening.

Moorhead police obtained a search warrant and collected items from Paskey’s home, and the victim identified him in a photo lineup as her assaulter, court records state.

Paskey is required to register as a predatory offender as a result of a false imprisonment conviction on March 1, 2010. Court records show he was sentenced to 17 months in prison, with 88 days credit for time served.

Paskey waived extradition Wednesday and was transferred to the Clay County Jail.

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