Girl, 12, Uses Facebook to Report Rape

SOUTH ST. PAUL, Minn. - A 12-year-old South St. Paul girl used Facebook and an internet-enabled iPod to report a sexual assault last Saturday by her mother’s ex-boyfriend.

Raymond Ernest Cesmat, 42, has been charged in Dakota County with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for the July 10 assault. According to the criminal complaint, the girl’s mother spent the night at her new boyfriend’s home that night, leaving her at home with Cesmat.

When South St. Paul police arrived at the home around 4:51 a.m., the girl told officers Cesmat had taken her phone away, saying he didn’t want her texting all night. Cesmat told the girl to leave her bedroom door open, and she said he was flashing a flashlight into the room..

Cesmat entered the room and tried to take off the girl’s pants, but she kicked and screamed for him to leave. When he left the room, the girl grabbed her iPod, logged on to Facebook and found Cesmat’s daughter online, sending her a message to call her mom immediately and tell her to come to the house.

As the message was sent, Cesmat came back into the room and became aggressive with the girl a second time. The girl threw books and scratched her attacker, causing him to bleed before he again left the room.

The girl then shoved a dresser in front of her door, climbed out a window and ran to use a pay phone near a gas station, where she called her mother who was already en route to the house. The girl’s mother then called police.

When interviewed by police, Cesmat denied ever seeing the girl that night, telling officers he went to two bars, then to a friend’s house. He said when he came home, the girl had already run away and denied sexually assaulting her.

Police spoke with a woman who Cesmat claimed to have been at the bar with. She confirmed they were together before going to her place, but said he left around 3:15 a.m. and received a text message from him at 3:27 a.m. saying he was home.