This article discusses sexual assault. If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can call RAINN’s national sexual assault hotline at 1-800-656-4673 for confidential support.
MILWAUKEE — A 57-year-old man has been charged with first degree sexual assault and the kidnapping of a woman from the Grand Avenue Mall parking garage in Milwaukee, according to a criminal complaint.
James Cole was charged Friday, April 12 by Milwaukee Police Department. If convicted, he faces over 60 years in prison and fines of up to $100,000. Cole is currently in custody of Milwaukee County Jail on a $500,000 bail.
The preliminary hearing is scheduled to take place on April 22.
According to the criminal complaint, the victim left for work at 9 a.m. on Monday, April 8 and entered the parking garage at Grand Avenue Mall around 9:17 a.m.
After she parked, the victim said she started scrolling social media on her phone with the car still running, as she was early for work. While waiting in the car, the victim said the suspect approached her driver's side window. He knocked on the window to tell her something was wrong with her car, but the victim said she disregarded him.
The suspect then walked away but came back, telling her he worked for the garage and she couldn’t be sitting there on her phone. The suspect then pulled what the victim described as a “butcher knife” on her, holding it to her arm through the window. She said he threatened her for money and then she gave him her wallet.
Eventually, the suspect got in the back of the car and told her to drive somewhere to drop him off. She said he guided them around to various locations.
As they were driving, she said the suspect told her not to worry and that he wouldn’t kill her unless she didn’t do what he told her. At one point, she said he told her he was going to stab her in the neck.
The suspect and the victim ended up parking behind a Goodwill store, where she said she was sexually assaulted by the suspect. However, they left after less than a minute when the suspect feared for cameras in the area. The victim said the suspect then directed them to an alley where she was further sexually assaulted.
The Milwaukee Police Department said they examined five fingerprints from the exterior passenger side of the victim’s car and they were consistent with Cole’s. The victim also identified Cole in a photo array.
Upon questioning, the suspect confirmed the assault, kidnapping and robbery, saying “I did what she said I did.” He said he picked the victim because she was “young looking and she was vulnerable.”