St. Cloud man charged in court with texting, inappropriate remarks to minor
The Stearns County Attorney's Office on Monday, July 14, filed felony charges against the man for allegedly soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct and engaging in electronic communication describing sexual conduct.
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According to the criminal complaint, the Central Minnesota Human Trafficking Task Force started its investigation on July 11. Another adult man, who isn't identified in the complaint, told police about the suspect allegedly reaching out to the child in an inappropriate way.
An investigator then met with the child, who also lives in St. Cloud. The child reportedly said the man made comments about her being cute, repeatedly sending good morning texts and "told her she had gained weight since last summer because he was looking at her butt while she was swimming," according to the statement of probable cause. He also allegedly told the girl he had troubles satisfying himself sexually and planned to buy a prostitute.
The statement of probable cause also states the girl told investigators the man said "... that he'd rather be with minors than anyone older."
Court records also show text messages between the suspect and the girl. The suspect read some of these texts during a Mirandized statement, according to the complaint, including a text saying the two will eventually engage in sexual activities.
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Court records state the man told investigators those texts were meant for somebody else. He also denied talking to the girl about certain things, but he admitted to talking about soliciting a prostitute, saying "she is old enough to understand." He also admitted to knowing the girl was 15 years old and telling her she had nice legs, according to the criminal complaint.
The 65-year-old man was arrested on July 11. As of July 14 morning, he is at the Stearns County Jail.
Both charges, if convicted, could carry up to five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.
Corey Schmidt covers politics and courts for the St. Cloud Times. He can be reached at cschmidt@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Minnesota man arrested for inappropriately texting to St. Cloud girl
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