Jesse Ericson charged with kidnapping a woman, again

Jesse Ericson was convicted of felony kidnapping in 2012 in connection with a scheme he concocted to hire a hit man to kill his ex-girlfriend. He also has two separate priors for criminal sexual conduct.

Now, just two weeks after he was released in connection with an auto theft and failing to register as a sex offender, Ericson, 46, is back in trouble again. Yesterday, he was charged with criminal sexual predatory conduct, kidnapping, and false imprisonment in connection with an incident that began in the parking lot of the Motel 6 in Roseville last Saturday evening and ended hours later in rural Harris.

According to the charges, the incident began when a woman got into an argument with her husband in the parking lot. Ericson allegedly overheard the arguing and "offered for her to step into his vehicle and calm down."

The woman took him up on the offer, but next thing she knew she was headed north on Interstate 35 in Ericson's vehicle, destination unknown.

The woman "told [Ericson] she wanted to go back to her husband, but [Ericson] told her that this would be really quick and he needed to check on his dog."

They ended up at Ericson's residence in Harris, the complaint says. There, Ericson asked the woman to come upstairs with him, but she refused and began crying. Ericson then allegedly groped the woman, who at some point during the ordeal discovered that a land line phone in the home had been disconnected.

When Ericson went upstairs by himself, the woman plugged the phone back in and called her husband. She told him she didn't know where she was, the complaint says, and when Ericson returned downstairs, she demanded he take her back to Roseville immediately.

The victim "stated that [Ericson] became increasingly agitated and began stomping up and down the stairs," the complaint says. "She explained that one of these times she believed she heard [Ericson] cocking a gun. [The victim] informed [officers] that at this point she was thinking that she was going to die." (No gun was found in the house, authorities say.)

Ericson again went upstairs. The woman picked up the phone and heard him "speaking on what sounded like a sex line as he was saying sexually explicit things."

A few moments later, she picked up the phone again, heard a dial tone, and called 911. An officer subsequently arrived at the scene and found the woman, distraught and hysterical, running toward him outside.

Ericson was arrested. In a post-Miranda interview, he told authorities the woman consented to going toward his house and "had a panic attack" once they got there.

"Defendant said that he was trying to calm her down and then she left the residence in order to get some air," the charges say.

To read the criminal complaint for yourself, click here.