MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 42-year-old Minneapolis man is accused of posing as a vulnerable woman’s aide and repeatedly having sex with her, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
Corey Gordon was charged Wednesday with third-degree criminal sexual conduct. According to Mike Freeman, the county attorney, Gordon has been required to register as a predatory offender for several years.
A criminal complaint says Gordon initially met the victim – a 32-year-old Bloomington woman with a rare brain disease – at the Mall of America last October. The victim’s mother said she saw Gordon sitting with the victim as she exited a store. When she approached Gordon, she noticed he was reading about the victim’s condition on his iPad. The victim told her mother that she and Gordon had exchanged numbers, that she told him about her condition and that they were friends.
In the months that followed, the victim’s mother found text messages between Gordon and the victim that she found to be romantic in nature. The mother – as well as other family members – said they contacted Gordon on multiple occasions, telling him to stay away from the victim, because she is vulnerable.
The victim had suffered permanent brain damage after the brain disease caused her to have multiple miniature strokes. Her mother said she has the cognitive and emotional ability of a third-or fourth-grader. She also uses a walker, wears hearing aids and a leg brace.
During this entire time, the victim attended therapy at the Courage Center, in Golden Valley, three days a week, the mother said. The victim took a Metro Mobility bus to the center, but on May 24 the mother drove her daughter because the bus had not been scheduled.
When the mother walked into the center that day, she said a staff member told her that her daughter’s personal care attendant (PCA) was waiting. This immediately concerned the mother, as he daughter does not have a PCA. Then the mother saw Gordon in the common area.
The mother walked up to Gordon, but he pretended not to know her and quickly left, the complaint said.
The mother learned from staff that Gordon had attended every therapy session her daughter had for several months. Gordon, according to the complaint, told staff he was the victim’s PCA. Courage Center security told police that they saw Gordon and the victim go into the assisted dressing rooms together many times. The security officers did not find this unusual, because they thought Gordon was helping the victim get dressed. According to the victim’s mother, the victim can dress herself.
When police spoke with the victim, she said she met Gordon at the Mall of America as she was walking out of the bathroom. She said they exchanged numbers and that within a week they met back at the Mall of America, where they went into a bathroom. Over the next five months, she said she met Gordon at the Courage Center and at her home and had sex with him. Moreover, she said Gordon took photos and videos of them while in the act. Gordon also told her to keep their relationship a secret, she said.
Gordon made his first court appearance Thursday. He is currently in custody.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and/or a $30,000 fine.
