Burnsville Man Sentenced To 27 Years For Kidnapping Woman

BURNSVILLE, MN — A Level 3 sex offender who lived in Burnsville was sentenced in U.S. District Court last week for kidnapping a woman in Minneapolis nearly two years ago. Dontay Lavarice Reese, 38, was sentenced to 27 years in prison.

At the sentencing, U.S. District Court Judge Patrick Schiltz said Reese “is extremely dangerous and the public must be protected from him,” Sun Thisweek reported. He also called Reese an “extraordinarily cruel and selfish person.”

The sentencing stems from an incident that occurred on Aug. 6, 2017, when Reese met the female victim in downtown Minneapolis and offered her a ride home. However, instead of driving her home, he drove her around the Twin Cities against her will and eventually to Wisconsin, telling the victim he planned to take her “several states away,” according to U.S. Attorney’s office release.

The victim attempted to escape multiple times, but was captured and violently restrained by Reese. A family witnessed one of the escape attempts and called 911, prompting a search by Wisconsin State Patrol.

Law enforcement officers located Reese and the victim in a wooded area off of Interstate 94 in Jackson County, Wis. The victim escaped and ran toward officers, her wrists bound and screaming for help. Reese came out of the wooded area shortly after, fully naked, and attempted to cross the interstate on foot. He was taken into custody by officers.

Reese pleaded guilty to the kidnapping charge in U.S. District Court in February. He is also facing a second indictment which alleges he assaulted a law enforcement officer while in custody on the kidnapping charge.

Reese has been convicted of 34 crimes as an adult and several as a juvenile, including an assault when he was 13, the Star Tribune reported. In 2003, Reese was convicted of felony criminal sexual conduct in a case similar to the one connected to his sentencing last week.