A Red Deer man has been arrested and charged after a young woman was allegedly kidnapped and sexually assaulted in the early morning hours of Dec. 3rd.
Justin Chase Mueller, 28, has been charged with committing a sexual assault with a weapon, committing robbery with a weapon, kidnapping, uttering threats and theft over $5,000.
The charges stem from an incident that took place on Dec. 3rd, when police said at approximately 12:20 a.m. a 20-year-old female was leaving her place of employment, a hotel, on Gasoline Alley.
Police said a lone male came to her drivers’ side door and brandished a knife. The male forced the female to get in the passenger seat and they departed. The male drove to the Westerner Grounds and then to the CIBC situated on 22nd St. in Red Deer where he brought the female into the vestibule and coerced her to withdraw money from her account at knifepoint.
The male then took the female to a rural location near Penhold where he sexually assaulted her. The male then drove the female back to Red Deer and dropped her off at a convenience store in the Inglewood area.
Police said the male left with the female’s vehicle. The RCMP were contacted and an immediate investigation was undertaken to identify this perpetrator.
On Dec. 3rd at approximately 8:20 a.m. the female’s 2014 Hyundai Tucson was recovered on the west side of Gasoline Alley in a construction site.
On Dec. 5th at 9:30 p.m., the Edmonton Police Service arrested Mueller on the warrant issued by the Blackfalds RCMP Detachment in connection to this incident.
Mueller had called police from a residence in Edmonton and said that he would like to turn himself in. The Edmonton Police Service tactical unit attended the residence and he was arrested without incident.
Earlier that day, an arrest warrant had been issued for Mueller after police identified him as the suspect in the attack. Police said Mueller was believed to have left the Red Deer area and headed to Edmonton before his arrest. Police also warned the public that he was to be considered armed and dangerous.
– Fawcett
