A woman who was sexually assaulted by a man who broke into her St. Paul home at random told a judge there are days she’s grateful she survived, while other days she’s angry it happened to her.

Deonte Marquon Thomas, 34, of Maplewood, pleaded guilty to the attack in July and received a 20-year prison sentence Tuesday.

Deonte Marquon Thomas (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Thomas choked the woman during the April assault in her Macalester-Groveland home. As the woman struggled to break free, she was losing consciousness and “thinking that this is how I leave this world,” she wrote in a victim impact statement read by a prosecutor in court.

“And then the hell of waking up and having a gun muzzle pressed against my temple and hoping nobody I know must clean up the mess of a bullet to the head,” she wrote about Thomas’ use of a gun.

Police arrested Thomas on April 25 after the April 15 assault. About 4:20 a.m. that day, the woman called 911 and reported she was sleeping when she heard pounding on the side door of her home, and then saw a man break the door’s glass, reach inside and unlock the door in the 300 block of South Snelling Avenue.

The man sexually assaulted her and, at one point, she bit his arm as hard as she could. After he left, police searched for him, including using a canine and drones, but didn’t find him in the area.

Police reviewed residential security videos and one showed a pickup in the alley near the victim’s residence at the time of the attack, and five of six license plate characters were visible. Police traced the license plate to a pickup registered to Thomas, the complaint said.

After his arrest, Thomas told police he’d been driving around and “randomly selected a house to break into,” according to the complaint. He said he’d used cocaine before the incident. He said he was “frustrated” and “angry” over life circumstances, the complaint continued.

Sexual assaults by strangers are uncommon; eight out of 10 rapes are committed by someone known to the victim, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network.

Thomas pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal sexual conduct while armed with a dangerous weapon and first-degree burglary. His 241-month sentence was the longest time in prison that he could be sentenced to under state sentencing guidelines, according to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office. He will serve the sentences for the two charges back-to-back rather than at the same time.

Asked by Ramsey County Judge John Guthmann in court whether he wanted to say anything, Thomas paused and then said, “No, sir.”

Thomas’ girlfriend, mother and grandmother attended the sentencing, and his girlfriend said outside of court, “We’re sorry that the situation transpired. … We’re all women at the end of the day. We’re sorry that that happened to her.”

Sexual violence resources

Free services for victims of sexual violence, and for their family and friends, are available through St. Paul-Ramsey County Public Health’s SOS Sexual Violence Services’ 24-hour resource line at 651-266-1000 or asksos@co.ramsey.mn.us.

For more information about reporting sexual violence in Ramsey County, visit ramseycounty.us/OnMyTerms.

Related Articles

After 17-year-old wounded in shooting near Fairgrounds, two more teens arrive at hospitals with gunshot wounds

2 killed in St. Louis Park restaurant patio crash were server, patron

Five people shot at Red Oak Park in Burnsville on Friday night police say

A teen’s murder, mold in the walls: Unfulfilled promises haunt public housing

Second Burnsville man sentenced in Eagan teen’s fentanyl death in 2021