Woman Reports Being Groped on Rochester Bike Trail, Suspect Arrested

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- For the second time in less than a month, Rochester Police responded to a reported groping on one of the city’s bike trails. 

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Police Captain Casey Moilanen said the latest incident happened around 4:15 p.m. Monday. The victim is described as a 36-year-old woman from Rochester. 

Moilanen said the woman reported walking south on the bike trail that follows the banks of Cascade Creek when she came upon a man holding out his hand about 100 yards north of Cook Park. She told police she thought the man was gesturing for a handshake and waved at him. 

Moilanen said the woman reported the man then grabbed her arm, pulled her towards him then fondled her breast. She told officers she yelled for him to stop, broke away from his grasp then turned around to go north on the path while the man headed in the opposite direction. 

Moilanen said officers, armed with a description of the man from the victim, found him on the walking path. The woman saw officers interacting with the man and she identified him as her alleged assailant. 

The suspect is identified as 78-year-old Mohamed Elwasila Ali of Rochester. Moilanen said he faces potential charges of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and disorderly conduct. 

The woman was not injured. Moilanen said a person, who the victim was on the phone with at the time of the alleged groping, verified her account of the incident. 

Monday’s reported groping comes just over three weeks after a woman reported a man grabbed her between her legs while she was walking her dog on the Douglas Trail. 46-year-old Ryan Wayne Anderson of Rochester was charged with fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct, felony terroristic threats and felony assault in that case, which has its next hearing in Olmsted County Court on Wednesday. 

In June three men were charged in an assault and robbery reported on a walking trail in Silver Lake Park. The cases against  24-year-old Keith Mendoza of Rochester, 20-year-old Munasar Mohamed of Rochester and 22-year-old Mohamed Mohamed of Stewartville in the alleged assault and robbery are still pending.