CROOKSTON-A Crookston man faces felony charges after witnesses said he held a knife to a woman's throat outside a Shopko in East Grand Forks.
Carlos Serrato, 30, was appeared Wednesday in Polk County District Court with second-degree assault, fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance, kidnapping and false imprisonment.
The charges stem from a Jan. 8 incident when Serrato ran down Venus Drive screaming for help, according to a criminal complaint. He got into a Dodge Durango, where two women were sitting, and broke a window in the car, according to the complaint. One of the women told Serrato to get out, but he told her to drive, according to the complaint.
The woman drove to Shopko, where Serrato pulled her from the vehicle by her coat, alternating holding the knife to her throat and to her side, according to the complaint. The woman yelled for help and got free by unzipping her jacket, slipping it off and running into Shopko.
Customers in the parking lot and Shopko employees told police they saw the incident, according to the complaint.
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At about 6:12 p.m., Shopko employees called 911 and police found Serrato lying on the ground with blood on his hands, according to the complaint.
Police photographed the broken window of the vehicle and found a 5-inch red "Snap-on" knife with its two-inch blade extended, the complaint states.
The woman was not seriously injured, according to the complaint.
Serrato was arrested by East Grand Forks police, who found traces of amphetamines on a mirror and a straw Serrato had in his possession, as well as to more than $600 in cash his pockets, according to the complaint.
Serrato faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and $25,000 for the kidnapping charge.
His next hearing is 9 a.m. March 8.
Serrato had been convicted in 2015 of fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle, driving while impaired and obstructing the legal process in Minnesota. In North Dakota, he was convicted of possession of cocaine and marijuana with intent to deliver in 2007, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia in 2010 and two counts of simple assault in 2012.
