Albert Lea man to stand trial on multiple charges of sexually assaulting sleeping women

(ABC 6 News) – An Albert Lea man faces seven criminal sexual conduct charges after allegedly sexually assaulting four sleeping women in 2020 and 2021.

Axel Xavier Christensen, 19, was accused of four counts of 3rd-degree criminal sexual conduct, including penetration, against one unconscious woman, as well as three separate counts of 4th-degree criminal sexual conduct involving three other unconscious women.

According to court documents, one woman told Albert Lea police in February of 2022 that she had spent the night at a friend’s house in October of 2021.

The friend and Christensen were roommates.

According to court documents, the woman said she woke up in the early morning and Christensen was molesting her under her clothing. When she woke up, she said Christensen stopped and walked back to his room.

The woman told police she and her boyfriend had found other women who said Christensen had sexually assaulted them while they were asleep.

One of the women recounted two 2021 occasions where Christensen allegedly penetrated her while she was asleep on a couch.

Another told Albert Lea police she remembered waking up while Christensen groped her after spending the night at the same friend’s house in December 2020.

A fourth woman told police she had been assaulted at a Halloween party in 2020.

Each of the woman told police she was shocked or “froze” during the alleged assaults.

Christensen is scheduled to appear in Freeborn County Court for a pretrial July 27, with a jury trial scheduled Aug. 14, 2023.