Fargo man facing 21 charges, including sexual assault, secret recordings

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - A Fargo man is facing 21 felony and misdemeanor charges after prosecutors allege he drugged and sexually assaulted two women in 2022, then secretly recorded the assaults and shared at least one of the recordings.

Jacob Steven Metcalf, 33, is charged with two counts of gross sexual imposition involving serious bodily injury and victim impairment, two additional counts of gross sexual imposition, two counts of sexual assault, two counts of possession with intent to manufacture or deliver a controlled substance, 13 counts of creation or possession of a surreptitiously created sexually expressive image, and one count of dissemination of a sexually expressive image, according to an amended information filed in Cass County District Court. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

The most serious charge, gross sexual imposition involving serious bodily injury, is a Class AA felony carrying a mandatory minimum of five years in prison. Several other counts are Class A and Class B felonies; the recording-related counts are Class A misdemeanors.

According to the charging document, the alleged conduct occurred between August and October 2022 and involved two women identified in court records only by their initials. Prosecutors allege Metcalf administered intoxicants or controlled substances to the women without their knowledge to impair their ability to resist, then engaged in sexual contact or sexual acts with them.

The document also alleges Metcalf possessed and intended to distribute controlled substances, including GHB, a depressant, and Clonazepam, a narcotic. According to the charging document, Metcalf discussed providing the drugs to others for the purpose of incapacitating them, and in one instance allegedly described a batch of GHB as “the same stuff I knocked out my friend with.”

Separately, the charges allege Metcalf created a series of video recordings of the two women without their knowledge or consent during the same time period — eight videos of one woman and five of the other, according to the charging document — and that he distributed at least one such recording with the intent to cause emotional harm or humiliation.

It was not immediately clear whether Metcalf has been taken into custody or has an attorney. Court records do not indicate he has entered a plea.

Valley News Live does not name victims of sexual assault. This story is based on a charging document, which contains allegations that have not been proven in court.