DULUTH — A prospective member of the Iron Range Hells Angels motorcycle charter faces rape and kidnapping charges related to a November incident involving two victims.
Iron Range Hells Angels prospect faces rape and kidnapping charges
Law enforcement says a man was kidnapped and assaulted at the Eveleth clubhouse for the motorcycle charter.
December 12, 2023 at 10:55PM
Paul Anthony Debelak, 37, was charged Tuesday in St. Louis County with several felonies.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) announced arrests last week of Debelak and another Eveleth man in connection to a report of sexual assault and kidnapping. A third man, the president of the local club, turned himself in Monday. He has not yet been charged, but the complaint says he allegedly assaulted one of the two victims.
The Star Tribune typically doesn't name suspects until they have been charged with a crime.
According to the complaint:
On Nov. 27, both of the victims were at an Eveleth residence when the club leader, Debelak and another Hells Angels prospect — along with another man — were allowed inside. The club leader is said to have punched and kicked the male victim, while Debelak allegedly sexually assaulted the female victim inside a bathroom.
The male victim was then brought to the Hells Angels clubhouse, where he was continually assaulted while others recorded the event, and was told he couldn't leave for months, the complaint says. The next day he escaped and went to the Eveleth police station.
The chief saw him limping and asked him to come inside. He was scared and crying, the chief said, but declined medical attention. The chief gave him a ride to a nearby park. Police reviewed city cameras and saw the man leaving the Hells Angels clubhouse on crutches with two men in pursuit.
On Dec. 1, the two victims reported the allegations to the BCA. Prior to the incident, the president of the club had told the male victim he couldn't associate with the female victim, the complaint says, who this week said she had also been raped by the other man with the group. That man has not been arrested.
Camera footage shows the male victim being brought to the clubhouse Nov. 27. Investigators said the home where the incident allegedly began was "filthy" but that the bathroom was "spotless."
Debelak has been convicted of gross misdemeanors related to domestic assault and child endangerment, among several other lower-level crimes.
Bail was set at $750,000.
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