Man Accused of Assaulting Burnsville Woman, Stealing Her Oxycodone

A Minneapolis man has been accused of hitting a Burnsville woman repeatedly in the face in the presence of her 9-year-old daughter and stealing almost two dozen prescription pills from her.

Marcus Eugene Brown, 33, is charged with fifth-degree drug possession, a felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He also faces a gross misdemeanor charge of domestic assault, which has a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine. 

Brown remains in the Dakota County Jail on a $30,000 bond. He is also being held on a Hennepin County warrant charging him with disorderly conduct. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled July 3 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.

According to the criminal complaint, police were called to a Burnsville home just after 7 a.m. June 19 on a report of an assault and damage to property.

Officers spoke to the victim and her daughter. The victim told police that Brown had called her earlier that morning from the home’s basement, and the two began to argue about Brown’s alcohol use.

While the victim was in the bathroom, Brown came upstairs and began to threaten to “slap the [expletive] out of her,” and refused to let her out of the bathroom, according to the complaint.

Brown eventually let her out, and the argument continued in front of the victim’s 9-year-old daughter, she said. Brown hit her repeatedly in the face and continued to threaten her; when she asked him if she could leave to run some errands, Brown kicked her flat-screen television, causing extensive damage to the screen, the complaint says.

Brown left, and the victim closed and locked the door behind him, despite his attempts to push his way back inside, according to the complaint. Brown then broke out a window beside the door, and the victim called 911, the complaint says.

The woman’s daughter gave officers a similar account of events.

While officers were talking to the victim and her daughter, another officer found Brown sitting on the ground outside a nearby business. His right wrist was bleeding, and he had an unlabeled bottle of pills beside him on the ground, according to the complaint.

Brown admitted to the officer that he had hurt his wrist when he punched out the window, and he also admitted damaging her TV, the complaint says. He told police that the pills in the bottle – later identified as Oxycodone – belonged to the victim, but that he had taken them so she wouldn’t abuse them, according to the complaint.