The psychologist, Michelle D. _______, 38, of Duluth, was charged with two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct involving the men, who were undergoing treatment for sexual offenses. A warrant covering Minnesota and its border states has been issued for her arrest.
The assaults occurred between 2016 and early 2018 on the campus of the state’s secure treatment facility in Moose Lake, including in rooms where clients undergo psychological assessments and polygraph tests, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday in Carlton County District Court.
The charges follow a six-month investigation by law enforcement authorities in Moose Lake and come as Minnesota’s sex offender treatment program faces renewed criticism over the historically low rate of release from the program’s prisonlike treatment centers in Moose Lake and St. Peter. Some men have been held at the treatment centers for years or even decades after completing their prison terms for sexual offenses.
Max Keller, a Minneapolis attorney representing Michelle D. _______, said in an e-mail message Thursday that his client “categorically denies all the criminal accusations in the criminal complaint, and she will be proven not guilty when all the evidence comes out.” He declined to comment further.
In February, a federal appeals court in St. Louis allowed a group of clients at the program to proceed with a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Minnesota’s system of confining sex offenders indefinitely after their prison terms — effectively turning the program into what they say is a de facto life sentence.
The appellate court’s decision, which did not weigh on the merits of the case, followed weeks of unrest at the Moose Lake facility, where early this year detainees went on a two-week hunger strike to protest their indefinite confinements and demand a clear path toward release into the community.
Related links:
Psychologist For Minnesota Sex Offender Program Charged With Criminal Sexual Conduct [minnesota.cbslocal.com – 4/25/21]
Lemme see, fits the stats of who the perps are when people are focused on the registry entrants…people in positions of trust are in the 95% as we have discussed previously.
well come to my world
Just proves the registry fails again. The danger to those men were the ones in charge of their care the entire time.
If she’s convicted, both victims should sue the living #$&@! out of the State and it’s Department of Human Services (and/or everyone they can!!!) And maybe a huge lawsuit will re-focus the public’s attention on civil commitment issues. 👍
You want people to be on a hit list then come and join us.. Find out you and your family are not safe when someone points a finger at you. And make up lies. Sex scams makes money at all levels. Think about it. The news the cops the jails.the lawyers.. All go hand and hand.. Want too take your child away from your ex yell molesting and watch your heart be ripped out when you can’t prove you never did anything wrong!!! You will find out you can not fight evil words.. Which i found out.
So putting trust in an authority figure is dangerous for registrants. We can’t trust strangers. We can’t trust law enforcement. We can’t trust those we are supposed to tell our fears and problems to.
I stopped trusting people after my mother abused me. Humans will fuck you over the 1st chance they get. I stopped going to my therapist because she lied to me about many things. I researched her and found out she had her license suspended by the state. Bottom line, if it doesn’t walk on four legs and have a tail, don’t trust it.
What’s really scary about this case is that it has been wiped from the public court records. There is clear probable cause, yet when the guilty party is part of the governmental machine, they are quick to hide their own sins.
Check out a similar case from MN recently….which will likely be swept under the rug.
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Charges: Lino Lakes prison substance abuse counselor sexually assaulted inmate in her officeMarch 23, 2022
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A fired substance abuse counselor at Lino Lakes prison was charged Wednesday with sexually assaulting an inmate in her office last fall.
Stephanie M. Chase, 47, of Lindstrom, Minn., was charged in Anoka County District Court with two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, one count of possessing contraband and three counts of witness tampering.
Chase was charged by summons and is scheduled to appear in court May 6. Court records did not list an attorney for her. Through a family member, Chase declined to comment.
She was hired by the state Department of Corrections in April 2019 and fired Feb. 27, department spokesman Nicholas Kimball said.
“People are in our custody while they work on transforming their lives,” Kimball said in a statement. “They have a right to be safe during that time. We take these allegations seriously and worked quickly to investigate and refer to the county to determine if criminal charges were warranted. We’ll cooperate fully with the ongoing case.”
According to the criminal complaint:
An inmate told a prison investigator that three inmates had consumed gummies from Chase containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.
The investigator found sexually explicit e-mails to one of the inmates describing what “Jennifer Johnson” wanted to do with him. Phone calls to the inmate also were associated with the same name but actually came from Chase.
The inmate went to Chase’s office, where sexual encounters occurred Nov. 12 and Nov. 19 as another prisoner acted as a lookout at her request.
A third prisoner told a police detective that Chase coerced him and the lookout to take THC gummies, which put them at risk of punishment, and offered jobs to all three with her husband’s company upon their release.
Lino Lakes consists of medium- and minimum-security units with a population of about 1,300 men. The prison specializes in educational and treatment programs. In many cases, inmates serve the final phase of their incarceration at Lino Lakes, so they can receive the services they need before their release.