Charge: Woman raped in Minneapolis strip club by man she just met

A woman was raped in the bathroom of a downtown Minneapolis strip club by a man she had just met briefly that night, according to authorities.

Jose Francisco Aplicano-Ramos, 25, of Chaska, was charged Monday in Hennepin County District Court with third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the encounter shortly after 2 a.m. on Feb. 2 at the Spearmint Rhino Gentlemen's Club in the 700 block of Hennepin Avenue S.

A nationwide warrant has been issued for Aplicano-Ramos' arrest, with an initial bail set of $100,000.

According to the complaint:

Police met with the woman down the block from the club. She was crying and "appeared very upset," and her clothes were disheveled.

She said that a man she had just met, later identified by police as Aplicano-Ramos, sexually assaulted her in the bathroom.

While in the club that night, she said, she had a few drinks, began to feel ill and went outside to smoke a cigarette. That's when a man came up and started talking to her.

The woman went back inside the club, walked directly to a one-person bathroom and locked the door.

After a few minutes, Aplicano-Ramos entered the bathroom despite it having been locked and directed the ailing woman to breathe.

She told Aplicano-Ramos to get out, but he pinned her against the sink and raped her despite her pleas to stop.

Aplicano-Ramos told police under questioning that the sex was consensual. He was booked into jail that morning and then released two days later as the investigation continued.