A Grand Marais husband who caught another man alone with his wife in their home is accused of using a crowbar, knife and gun to force the man to have sex with her.
The wife also is charged in the case for allegedly aiding and abetting the sexual assault of the 43-year-old Cook County man. Authorities say she had been having an affair with the man.
Kevin Robert Thompson, 52, is charged in Cook County District Court with kidnapping, second-degree assault, terroristic threats, false imprisonment, domestic assault and second-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with an eight- to nine-hour alleged incident on May 15-16 in his home on East Highway 61.
His wife, Susan Ann Thompson, 40, is charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping and false imprisonment.
Kevin Thompson is accused of taking part in and orchestrating sex between his wife and the alleged victim through threats. It's alleged that Susan Thompson readily acquiesced, asked for a sex toy and never indicated any surprise or concern about the course of events.
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The alleged victim declined comment Friday and asked that his name not be published. The News Tribune does not publish the names of victims or alleged victims of sexual assault without their permission.
Duluth defense attorney Richard Holmstrom represents Kevin Thompson. Attorney Christopher Stocke represents Susan Thompson. Holmstrom and Stocke share a law office.
"The best way to sum this case up is if the prosecution wants to call [the alleged victim] a victim, the only thing he is a victim of is his own lust and his own illicit lust," Holmstrom said. "He got caught in the act, and now they are trying to make it out that Kevin Thompson is some kind of a criminal here -- and he's just not."
Cook County Attorney Timothy Scannell, who is prosecuting the case, declined comment.
According to the criminal complaint filed against Susan Thompson, the alleged victim believed that her husband had discovered the affair. When he turned down her invitation to her home on May 15, she became angry and threatened to tell her husband that the alleged victim had been bothering her. She said her husband would harm him by "peeling off his face or killing him," the complaint alleges.
Susan Thompson is accused of calling the alleged victim several times on May 15 and demanding that he come to their house. He eventually acquiesced.
When he arrived at the house, the woman invited him downstairs. The man told Cook County sheriff's deputies that the woman told him: "You look hot. Take off your shirt and take something else off." He was wearing only a T-shirt and his underwear when Kevin Thompson arrived home. Kevin Thompson came downstairs holding a crowbar and a hammer.
Holmstrom said his client came home and saw another vehicle in his driveway and didn't know if someone might be burglarizing his house. He said Kevin Thompson put a handgun in his belt for his own protection, went downstairs and found his wife and the alleged victim engaged in sexual activity.
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He said there was a short struggle where the two men wrestled but that his client never pulled the gun out. He said Thompson eventually placed the gun in another room.
The alleged victim said Kevin Thompson secured him with plastic ties and duct tape and loosely restrained Susan Thompson, according to the complaint
Holmstrom said Kevin Thompson did not take part in any sex acts, but that Susan Thompson and the alleged victim did.
The alleged victim told police he felt he was in some kind of bad pornographic movie. He said Kevin Thompson lay on the floor next to him and Susan Thompson and asked him about their relationship.
He said Kevin Thompson terrified him with threats such as:
"We start with losing a digit here and there."
"I could turn that on and put your face in it [the electric oven.]"
"I want to ruin you financially. I don't need your money. I've got five million in the bank."
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At other points in the night, the complaint says, Kevin Thompson threatened to disembowel the alleged victim with a crowbar and suggested he might anesthetize him, cut open his skull and feed him his own brain.
Holmstrom called the dozens of pages of police reports in the case "over the top."
"I've never seen police reports so graphic in the detail of the allegations of what went on here and that's in 37 years of defending criminal cases," Holmstrom said.
He said his client didn't commit any crimes and cooperated with law enforcement.
"He came home and he's presented with a situation where his wife is engaged in sexual activity with another man," Holmstrom said. "He got mad, things happened during that night, but [the alleged victim] was not injured in any way physically. He was allowed to leave. ... It's our position that he committed no crime."
According to the criminal complaint charging Susan Thompson: "Law enforcement found digital material on the Thompson's computers and cell phones indicating that both husband and wife regularly search for 'swinger' relationships on the Internet ... and have engaged in sexual relationships with multiple partners."
"That's just speculation by police," Holmstrom said. "They seized every computer they could get their hands on in the house. At least one of those computers had been used in Mr. Thompson's business in the Chicago area."
Holmstrom said he didn't know if Thompson still had the business in the Chicago area. He said he thought the couple had moved to Grand Marais in the past two or three years.
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Both attorneys said they had advised their clients not to talk to the media.
Stocke describes Susan Thompson as "a very pretty woman, genteel, honest, well-spoken, professional." He said she did volunteer work and had worked as a substitute teacher.
"She's as much a victim of this as [the alleged victim]," Stocke said. "She had absolutely no knowledge that this was going to take place. She never aided and abetted Mr. Thompson. ... It was a horrible indiscretion of having an extramarital affair. She made a mistake. She acknowledges that. She feels absolutely horrible."
Holmstrom and Stocke said their clients remain together and are working at patching their relationship. They have an 11-year-old son.
Attorneys in the case have filed briefs with the court arguing their positions. Sixth Judicial District Judge Kenneth Sandvik has 90 days to issue his rulings. The next hearing date hasn't been set.
