OWATONNA POLICE DEPARTMENT—2017 Annual Report
2017 Detective Bureau Highlights An undetected two month crime spree came to an end during the summer of 2017 after a 17 year old juvenile offender, Charles Lee Ramsey Adams, entered residences and victimized two women in their sleep and entered a handful of residences potentially seeking other victims. The first case of a sexual assault was reported mid-July and was inactive due to no suspect leads. A second case occurred and was reported one month later, also inactive due to the lack of investigative leads. A day following the second incident, a concerned parent found two sets of car key fobs in her son’s backpack. These keys were linked back to property from the second burglary and sexual assault case. Our detectives immediately began working with this lead and arrested the juvenile who was in possession of the key fobs. This suspect then pointed detectives to Charles Adams. Adams was located shortly thereafter and a search warrant of his cellular phone revealed supporting evidence in the form of still pictures of him in many homes and videos of him sexually assaulting female victims in their sleep. A detective tied Adams to the first sexual assault incident after recognizing and matching still images from Adams’ phone of a unique pattern of woman’s undergarments to the crime scene evidence from the first case. More pictures in Adams’ possession tied him to other theft and burglary victims of credit card fraud. Charles Adams was certified as an adult and was formally charged with six counts of Burglary and two cases of Criminal Sexual Conduct. Adams pled guilty to the most serious sexual assault cases and was sentenced to 172 months and 108 months, serving concurrently. In June, patrol officers and detectives responded to a stabbing at Skyline Gardens. The victim, a 36 year old female was located outside the residence sitting in a chair, being treated by a neighbor. The victim’s clothing was soiled in her blood from knife lacerations to her cheek, abdomen and back. The victim was stabbed a total of 10 times with a folding knife. The victim was losing consciousness, although uttered to officers that her boyfriend, Ron Jaeger, stabbed her, took her phone and fled in her vehicle. A KOPS alert was issued and a deputy from the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office heard the call and began monitoring Highway 14 East. Shortly thereafter, the deputy spotted the suspect vehicle traveling east, toward Rochester. The deputy made a high risk traffic stop with the help from the Minnesota State Patrol and arrested the driver and only occupant—Jaeger. Jaeger had blood on his hands, clothing and inside the vehicle. A weapon was found on the passenger side floor with blood on it. OPD detectives immediately responded to the call and secured two crimes scenes, the residence and vehicle. They collected evidence, took photographs, conducted interviews, took the victim’s statement, and filed search warrants. The victim was airlifted to a Rochester hospital and survived the assault. Ron Jaeger, 34 of Owatonna, was charged and remains in custody for Attempted Second Degree Murder and First Degree Assault. On June 19, 2018, Jaeger was found to be competent to stand trial which will begin during the fall of 2018.
Ron Jaeger
16—Detective Bureau Highlights
