Men dressed as security guards sexually assault Michigan teens
SAGINAW COUNTY MI April 14 2019 The man accused of sexually assaulting two teenagers inside an apartment near Saginaw Valley State University was arraigned Thursday on three charges.
Mikkal Essex, 22, is facing two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder for an alleged attack at the Campus Village apartment complex near Saginaw Valley State University early Saturday.
Essex also faces seven charges of resisting arrest, as he fought with officers after he was informed he was being arrested on Monday.
Police say four men and three females ages 18, 17 and 16 were in the apartment. Investigators believe Essex sexually assaulted and injured one of the older teens.
They also are looking for three other men in their 20s who may have assaulted the other older teen in the apartment. All of the suspects allegedly were dressed as security guards, but investigators aren’t sure if they actually work security.
“We are not going to stop looking for them,” said Saginaw County Sheriff Bill Federspiel.
The 16-year-old was not assaulted. One of the older teens who was assaulted is a Saginaw Valley State University student. The three females and the four men, including Essex, did not live in the apartment where the alleged assaults took place.
Federspiel believes the two groups of people may have met each other earlier in the evening, but didn’t know each other well.
The sheriff’s office is also investigating another incident near the apartment complex around the same time, where a man told a security guard there another woman was assaulted, possibly by someone dressed a security guard.
Detectives are looking for the man and woman who made that claim.
“I would like to talk them,” Federspiel said. “I wish they would come forward and call us.”
He wants the public to know that the alleged crimes are the first serious incidents at the complex since a shooting there in 2016, where no one was hurt.
“We don’t want there to be people paranoid about rampant crime going on,” Federspiel said. “That’s not the case there.”
WJRT
