Deer Creek Man Sentenced for Belgrade Assault

ST. CLOUD -- A Deer Creek man who pleaded guilty to assaulting a woman and holding her hostage in Belgrade has been sentenced. A Stearns County judge has sentenced 36-year-old Christopher Shepersky to 23 months in prison.

Shepersky pleaded guilty in February through a Norgaard plea to 2nd-degree assault with a dangerous weapon causing substantial bodily harm. A Norgaard plea is where a defendant claims they were too drunk or under the influence of chemicals to recall the facts of what happened.

According to the criminal complaint, police responded to a home in the 100 block of Washburn Avenue back in November, after getting a phone call about a possible assault or homicide.

The caller said her ex-husband had told her he stabbed a woman and she was possibly dead. The woman said Shepersky was using meth and may be delusional.

Court records show Shepersky had texted the woman photos of the victim's face splattered with blood, a sledgehammer on the floor next to a large pool of blood, and what appeared to be a BB gun rifle next to bloody streaks and bloody footprints. The caller then forwarded those images to the police.

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Negotiators were able to contact the victim over the phone and ultimately convince Shepersky to release her. The woman was taken to the hospital with a large deep cut to her hand, a cut to her neck, and bruising all over her arms.

Police negotiators were eventually able to convince Shepersky to go outside where he was taken into custody nearly 8 hours later.

Officers then interviewed the victim at the hospital. She said Shepersky was her friend's boyfriend and he had been at her house since the previous day. The two allegedly were doing methamphetamine when Shepersky got paranoid that there were cops outside and that she had set him up.

Shepersky allegedly grabbed two knives, held them to her throat at times, threatened to kill her, and refused to let her leave. The woman escaped Shepersky's restraint and they struggled on the floor for the knife. During the struggle, the victim received the cut to her hand but got the knife from Shepersky.

Court records show the woman lost consciousness after losing so much blood. When she awoke, she said Shepersky was holding a sledgehammer and threatening her with it.

Records show the woman's hand injury required surgery to repair two severed tendons.