Renaissance Festival director charged with raping festival photographer

• By Deena Winter dwinter@swpub.com

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  • Jun 15, 2018

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Carr Hagerman

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Updated 7:27 p.m. Friday 

The Renaissance Festival's artistic director, Carr L. Hagerman, a 59-year-old Richfield man, is charged with raping a photographer working at the festival on one of its final weekends in September.

Hagerman has played the "Rat Catcher," a vagabond who hurls insults at passersby, for more than 40 years.

Hagerman told police he knew there were several allegations against him, and denied raping the woman, according to court documents.

According to the charging documents, on Oct. 30, the Scott County Sheriff's Office was notified that a woman was raped on about Sept. 23 while working at the Renaissance Festival, but she declined to cooperate with authorities, saying Hagerman had threatened her and she feared for her life. 

Then on Nov. 5, a Scott County sheriff's deputy got a call from a person saying she was trying to help a victim report a rape at the Renaissance Festival who feared for her safety and wanted to speak to an investigator in person. Two days later, a detective met with the victim at North Memorial Medical Center, where she was still reluctant to speak with him and "emotionally distraught." She said the incident took place on the second-to-last weekend of the festival, Sept. 23 or 24, while she was working part time as a photographer at the festival. 

She said Hagerman had offered to bring her to the upstairs of the "Bad Manor" so she could take photos from that vantage point, and led her to a drum storage room, where he noticed she was wearing a pink ribbon signifying a support group for women at the festival that was an offshoot of the #MeToo movement. 

"Defendant became angry at seeing the ribbon and ripped it off of victim," the complaint says. "Defendant then slammed victim's head against the wall, calling her a 'bitch' and a 'whore.' Defendant told victim she was going to get what she deserved and took some type of pill."

According to the complaint, he repeatedly raped and sodomized her with a drumstick while biting her and hitting her head against the wall and saying things like, "I will do whatever I want with you," and "you are my piece of meat."

He also said,"Remember, I know where you live ... I will f**ing kill you and destroy your life if you say anything." The victim didn't recall how the assault ended because she blacked out and lost consciousness. When she came to, her underwear and pink ribbon were gone, and she'd sprained her hand trying to get the man off her.

She was seen at Park Nicollet on Sept. 25 for the hand injury, and her hand was placed in a splint.

On Nov. 29, the detective went to Hagerman's home to speak to him, and he said he was aware several people had made allegations against him. Hagerman said he'd only spoken to the victim a few times, they didn't have a sexual relationship and they'd never been alone together. When the detective said a rape was alleged, Hagerman said he no longer wanted to speak to the detective.

Another festival employee said he saw Hagerman enter the Bad Manor with a person he couldn't see, and later heard what sounded like banging coming from the drum room, whose door was locked. He said he knocked on the door and asked if everything was OK, and heard Hagerman say "I got this." The man didn't think anything of it and left.

Another person said during the final weekend of the festival, she noticed the victim became nervous and withdrawn, and the victim told her about the incident. 

Hagerman is charged with two felony sex crimes, which each carry a maximum penalty of 30 years imprisonment and a $40,000 fine. They carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 144 months in prison.

He started out as a street performer in 1974 touring with Renaissance festivals as a "walkabout street comedian," according to his website, which says he annually "trains and develops over 400 entertainers, musicians and costumed performers for the Minnesota Renaissance Festival" and runs the Top Performer Academy.