EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (FOX 9) – A prominent Twin Cities racehorse owner is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a bartender he hired to work at a private party in May 2024.
Barry Butzow, 78, of Eden Prairie, is charged via warrant with third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection to the incident.
What the charges allege
According to the criminal complaint, at 2:30 p.m. on May 22, the Eden Prairie Police Department met with a woman who said Butzow assaulted her at his home in Eden Prairie. The victim told police she worked as a bartender at a bar in Shakopee, where Canterbury Park is located. She met Butzow about a year prior because he was a regular at the bar where she worked.
On May 18, 2024, the victim went to Butzow’s home in Eden Prairie because he had hired her to work as a private bartender for a cocktail party he was hosting.
A couple of days later, on May 20, he asked her to come to his home to help him pack and clean up some leftover food, the complaint states. The victim agreed and went to his home after her shift, around 7 p.m.
That night, they were drinking wine when Butzow tried to kiss her several times, charges state. The victim told him to stop and repeatedly pushed him away. After a while, the victim told Butzow she needed to leave, but he told her that she shouldn’t be driving.
That was the last thing the victim remembered before she lost consciousness, charges said. She woke up, feeling fuzzy and disoriented, lying on a bed in a bedroom with Butzow next to her. He was assaulting her. She immediately told him to stop, charges state.
She got up and tried to leave the room, but Butzow blocked her way, grabbed her arms and led her back to the bed, charges said. Eventually, the victim was able to run out of the house. The victim called her boyfriend for help, and they went to the hospital.
Hospital staff obtained DNA from the incident. Investigators also obtained DNA from Butzow, with charges noting he “was indicated as a possible contributor to the DNA mixture at a probability of 100 billion times more likely to include his DNA than any other unrelated individual.”
The victim believed she was drugged because she said she only had three glasses of wine and did not feel very intoxicated before she lost consciousness, changes said.
On June 13, police spoke with Butzow, who confirmed he hired the victim to work as a bartender for the cocktail party and said she returned to his home to clean up, charges said. He said his wife had left town the same day and he and the victim drank wine together. He said he believed the victim was drunk, so he told her to lie down in his bedroom. He said he was rubbing her back while on the bed when she was in and out of consciousness.
He denied sexually assaulting the victim, charges state.
The criminal complaint says Butzow “poses a danger to public safety,” and prosecutors request a warrant for his arrest.
Who is Barry Butzow
Butzow is a prominent figure in the Twin Cities horse racing community as a horse owner and a breeder, including horses that race at Canterbury Park. He also had a horse race in the 2022 Kentucky Derby.
