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Man pleads not guilty to raping girl at gunpoint

A 20-year-old Belcourt man pleaded not guilty Tuesday to raping a 16-year-old girl at gunpoint in September 2016.

Demitri Gourneau is charged with Class AA felony gross sexual imposition in district court in Minot.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed with the court, Gourneau, who was 19 at the time, sent a message to the girl on Facebook asking if he could come over to her house. A group of men in a pickup truck dropped off Gourneau and he and the girl talked on the porch. He showed her brass knuckles and a handgun and talked about being a drug dealer. The girl was frightened and grabbed the gun. Gourneau took it away from her, pointed it at her head and demanded that she give him her money and cell phone. She complied and Gourneau put the items in his pocket, took her by the arm and led her to the back of the house, where he held the gun to her head and raped her. She cried and he laughed at her. He told her he would be coming back. Then he left in a pickup driven by a friend and threw her phone and money out the window. He also choked and bit the girl on her neck, according to testimony at the probable cause hearing on Tuesday.

The girl later told a friend what had happened and told a resource officer at Minot High School-Magic City Campus. School resource officer Caisee Sandusky testified at the preliminary hearing Tuesday that the girl was taken to the hospital for an exam. An officer noticed bruising on the girl’s neck. Samples from Gourneau were taken and sent to the state laboratory for comparison with the evidence collected during the exam of the girl, but the results of the testing are not back yet.

During the preliminary hearing, Gourneau’s attorney, Eric Baumann, questioned why the charge was not filed against Gourneau for five months after the alleged assault. Sandusky said she did not know why the charge had not been filed, but it had been under review by the state’s attorney’s office.

Gourneau did not make an initial appearance on the charge until January 2018. He had previously been held at the Heart of America Correctional Center in Rugby on charges filed on the Turtle Mountain Reservation.

Gourneau could face up to life in prison without parole if convicted of the crime. There would be a minimum mandatory sentence of 20 years in prison for if he is found guilty of the forcible rape and he would be required to register as a sex offender.

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