St. Paul Catholic School Student Reports Being Bullied into Sex Act

By Emily Gurnon
Pioneer Press
March 21, 2013

http://www.twincities.com/education/ci_22842335/st-paul-police-investigate-claims-that-student-at

St. Paul police are investigating allegations that a female student at St. Thomas More Catholic School was bullied into performing a sex act on a male student. The boy then sent a photo of the encounter to a friend via text message, a court document said.

Neither child was identified in a search warrant affidavit made public Thursday, March 21, in Ramsey County District Court. The boy has not been charged. St. Paul police spokesman Howie Padilla said Thursday that they would not release the boy's age.

The school at 1065 Summit Ave. in St. Paul serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

According to the affidavit:

The girl told someone who is mandated by law to report abuse that she had been bullied last month into performing oral sex on a boy. Police were notified, and the girl was referred to the Midwest Children's Resource Center at Children's Hospital in St. Paul, which evaluates suspected abuse victims.

The girl told medical staff that she had been bullied by the boy and his friends since the beginning of the school year. The boy told her "they would be nice to her if she performed oral sex on him," the affidavit said. She complied.

Police learned that the boy -- without the girl's knowledge -- took a photo of the sex act with his iPhone and sent it to a classmate, who in turn sent it to someone else. The third person deleted it from his phone, the affidavit said.

When police talked again with the suspect, he said the sexual encounter

was consensual. He admitted he took the photo and sent it to another student. With a search warrant, police seized the iPhone from the boy's St. Paul home. There was no information in the search warrant about what, if anything, the phone contained.

The case is under investigation, Padilla said.

Mara H. Gottfried contributed to this story.

Emily Gurnon can be reached at 651-228-5522. Follow her at twitter.com/emilygurnon.

Contact: egurnon@pioneerpress.comtwincities.com