FERGUS FALLS, Minn. - A Pelican Rapids man was charged Tuesday, July 24, with numerous felony counts stemming from the abduction of a rural Fergus Falls mother who told authorities her attacker sexually assaulted her after telling her they had to have sex so he could keep his bloodline going.
Anthony Randklev, 39, is charged in Otter Tail County District Court with kidnapping, first-degree possession of a dangerous weapon, illegal possession of a firearm, false imprisonment, fleeing and three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.
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During a Tuesday court appearance, his bail was set at $2 million with conditions and $5 million without conditions. He remains in custody at the Otter Tail County Jail.
According to the sheriff's office and court documents:
Randklev is suspected of entering the woman's home on Sunday afternoon, July 22, through an unlocked door after the woman's husband left the home to do land surveying work nearby.
The Forum is not naming the woman because it typically does not report the names of sexual assault victims.
After entering the home, Randklev, who was armed with a long gun, asked children in the house where their mother was and then took her with him toward some nearby woods.
As authorities looked for the assailant and his hostage, the woman's husband told sheriff's deputies of an incident the night before in which a man came to the house asking for gasoline.
He said he provided the man with gasoline but in doing so noticed the gauge on the man's silver pickup truck indicated there was enough fuel to get him to Fergus Falls.
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A tip Sunday afternoon led authorities to search an area where a silver pickup had left an abandoned farmstead along County Highway 24. Soon afterward, Randklev's pickup was found in Pelican Rapids.
That led to a high-speed chase that ended near Erhard, after the pickup became stuck in a slough and officers made contact with the driver after firing shots. Further details about the gunfire were not available and no one was injured.
Authorities recovered a semi-automatic, 12-gauge shotgun near where the pickup came to a stop.
Randklev was arrested, and the abducted woman was found in the pickup. She was taken to Sanford Medical Center in Fargo to be reunited with her family and to receive medical attention.
The victim told authorities that after Randklev entered her house, he told her to go with him or he would kill her family.
She said he drove her to an abandoned house in the country where he talked about how people in his life had wronged him and he "had to do this."
The woman said her attacker claimed people had killed his son and in order to keep his bloodline going they had to have sex.
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The account echoed a case from November 2007 in which a woman told authorities Randklev abducted her and took her to an abandoned building and sexually assaulted her.
In that case, Randklev pleaded guilty in Otter Tail County District Court to kidnapping and second-degree assault. He was sentenced to four years and three months behind bars.
He served that sentence concurrent with a six-year sentence he received for his conviction in another Otter Tail County case stemming from early November 2007.
In that case, according to court records, Randklev pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and fleeing a peace officer stemming from an incident in which Randklev nearly struck an officer while fleeing in a vehicle at high speed.