Man charged for touching 9-year-old girls

A booking photo of Jarid Troy Alan Jovanovich from Hennepin County from August of 2015.

Jarid Troy Alan Jovanovich is now charged with one count of criminal sexual conduct and one count of attempted criminal sexual conduct for going into a home and touching two nine-year-old girls in Columbia Heights. He has also been charged with four counts of burglary.

According to the criminal complaint, early Sunday morning, Anoka County Sheriff’s officials responded to a burglary on Arthur Street in Columbia Heights. The father in the home had his twin nine-year-old daughters spending the weekend with him. One daughter told police she woke up to Jovanovich taking off her blanket and touching her thigh. Then she saw him take off her sister’s blanket and start rubbing her butt over her clothing. The girl told him to stop and went into the bathroom. When she yelled for her dad, Jovanovich ran away.

Continued investigation linked Jovanovich to three other suspicious burglary nearby incidents that happened over the weekend and one incident caught Jovanovich on surveillance cameras.

Jovanovich was taken into custody on Wednesday. He later admitted to going into the home on Arthur Street and watching the two girls sleep, but denied touching either girl.

RECAP: Burglar accused of sexually assaulting 9-year-old arrested in Minneapolis