St. Cloud Man Charged With Five Felonies After Allegedly Beating a Woman and Threatening to Set Her on Fire

(KNSI) – A St. Cloud man is facing five felony charges after allegedly beating a woman so violently, she needed to be hospitalized.

WARNING: The following details may be upsetting.

According to the criminal complaint, police were called to St. Cloud Hospital for a report of a domestic assault on June 20th. A woman told police that 36-year-old James Richard Scholtes, also known as James Richard Jochum, assaulted her and locked her in a bedroom for hours.

She explained to investigators that on June 19th, Scholtes threatened to “beat her ass” if she wasn’t home when he got back from work. After he returned, she said they went to a home on the 1500 block of 2nd Street North in St. Cloud, but he became angry and knocked her to the ground, grabbed her by the hair, and dragged her down the stairs. Once at the bottom of the stairs, she said her ribs made contact with the door jamb, and Scholtes then got on top of her and hit her in the face three times. She says he got into a vehicle and told her that he would burn the house down if she didn’t come with him.

Once in the vehicle, she said it began to stall, so they had to pull over. She says Scholtes grabbed her around the neck and choked her to the point she couldn’t breathe and was afraid for her life. She said he hit her again, and when he was attempting to figure out what was wrong with the vehicle, she tried to leave, but he dragged her back inside the vehicle and hit her.

She said Scholtes forced her to walk to his friend’s house, who gave them a ride to another home in the 1000 block of 27th Avenue North. As the friend drove, she said Scholtes continued to hit her, and once at the house, he threw objects at her, including a piece of wood and a car jack, and hit her with a baseball bat. She said Scholtes also started to take off her clothes and said he was going to burn them. She said she commented on Scholtes’s behavior escalating, and he threatened to pour gasoline on her and light her on fire. She explained to the police that he came at her with a gas can as she was on the floor pleading for her life.

The criminal complaint says someone in the home tried to stop Scholtes from attacking the woman but said Scholtes told them if they came back, he would burn her.

She told police she’s not sure why he stopped attacking her, but eventually, she was able to leave and go to the police department for help, who then took her to the hospital. Court documents say the woman reported a history of abuse at the hands of Scholtes, who also allegedly pointed a gun at her. She said Scholtes also had a gun while he was beating her June 19th and 20th.

A warrant for Scholtes’s arrest was issued on July 21st, but his whereabouts were unknown. He was arrested on August 9th.

Police say Scholtes has a long criminal history, including a conviction for misdemeanor domestic assault and several domestic abuse no contact order violations.

He is now charged in Stearns County District Court with one count of kidnapping, two counts of felony domestic assault, one count of domestic assault by strangulation, and one count of felony threats of violence.

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