Article Photos

WINNEBAGO - A woman was rescued by police on Saturday after she was assaulted and held in a trailer in Winnebago.

The Faribault County Sheriff's Office received a call from a neighbor of Warren James Allen, 65, of southeast 224 Fourth Avenue, that a woman was being held against her will and needed medical attention.

"Somebody wasn't free to leave," said Chief Deputy Scott Adams.

The call came in at 7:59 a.m. Just before 9 a.m. the sheriff and four deputies, a Winnebago officer and a Minnesota State Patrol Trooper took a sledge hammer to the door of the trailer, following a report that the door was barricaded shut. The officers ran into the trailer, retrieved the woman and arrested Allen. Police Chief Bob Toland said officers took Allen into custody without incident.

Winnebago Ambulance transported the woman to United Hospital District.

Allen is being held at the Faribault County Jail. Charges are pending and are expected to include false imprisonment, terroristic threats, domestic assault and assault.

Allen has multiple charges and convictions on his criminal record from past incidences. He was charged in 1991 for attempted first-degree murder and second- and fourth-degree assault. Allen also was convicted of armed robbery of the Easton bank and has had numerous assault convictions and violating order for protection charges through 2007.

"He's had a history of violence in the past," Toland said. "Assault on a police officer, domestic assault, bank robbery. He's pretty extensive. He's spent a lot of time in prison." Toland said there was one incident when a Wells police officer arrested Allen, and in the squad car Allen tried to take the officer's gun.

"There was an exchange of gunfire in the (squad)," Toland said. "They were fighting over the police officer's gun in the vehicle. He was assaulting that police officer. Nothing happened. It went well."