Registered sex offender charged with Midland-area rape, burglary, kidnapping
A registered sex offender allegedly broke into a Midland-area home and attacked the woman who lives there, according to court records.
Prosecutors charged 38-year-old Michael Lindburg McLeod with first-degree rape, kidnapping and burglary. He pleaded not guilty at arraignment Wednesday and Superior Court Judge Sabrina Ahrens set bail at $500,000.
Charging papers and police give this account of what happened:
The woman returned home Monday night to find a stranger in her home, wearing a bath robe.
He tried to sexually assault her, she fought him, and he told her to calm down. Then he went to smoke and she tried to escape.
The man grabbed her, and she picked up a kitchen knife, which he got away from her.
He took her to the bedroom and assaulted her, until she hit his genitals. That’s when he left.
She called the police just after midnight. They noted she had broken fingernails, bruises on her wrists and forearms, and blood on her shirt.
“She was asked where the blood came from, and she said it was likely when she tried to ‘gouge his eyes out,’” the declaration for determination of probable cause said.
McLeod lived nearby and moved to the neighborhood a few days prior after recently being released from jail in connection to an assault in Seattle that happened a year ago. A neighbor knew his name because he had driven him to the Sheriff’s Department to register as a sex offender.
McLeod pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and attempted third-degree rape in the Seattle case, according to court records.
He wasn’t home when police checked Tuesday. Later they learned he was running behind a home in the area, and a police dog tracked him down in about 10 minutes.
The woman identified McLeod as her attacker.
This story was originally published January 27, 2021 at 1:04 PM.
