U.S. Marshals Arrest Sex Offender Living in Minnetonka

A man who told police that he has been living in Minnetonka for months without registering as a sex offender is facing a felony charge for failing to let authorities know his whereabouts.

Vernell Grubbs, 51, is charged with failure to register as a predatory offender, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The charge has a mandatory minimum penalty of a year and a day in jail.

According to the criminal complaint, U.S. marshals received word that Grubbs was living in the 11100 block of Cedar Hills Boulevard and that he was wanted on an Illinois warrant that accused him of failing to register in that state as a sex offender.

Marshals went to Grubbs’ Minnetonka apartment on July 26 and arrested him.

Grubbs is required by law to register as a sex offender after being convicted of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old when Grubbs was 35. He subsequently served 12 years in prison on that conviction.

Grubbs is accused of failing to notify Illinois authorities that he had moved to Minnesota. According to the complaint, he told authorities that he knew he was required to register in Minnesota, but he failed to do so because he feared the consequences of failing to register in Illinois before he left that state.

Grubbs said that he had been living in Minnetonka since last spring, according to the complaint. He was also being sought on an outstanding Eden Prairie warrant charging him with providing false information to a police officer; he told authorities he did that to avoid being arrested for the sex offender registration violations, the complaint charges.

The Illinois Sex Offender Registry continued to list Grubbs’ location as “unknown” at the end of July. 

Grubbs remains in the Hennepin County Jail on a $10,000 bond and is also being held on the Eden Prairie warrant charging him with giving a false name to police. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled Aug. 30 in Hennepin County District Court.