MINNESOTA
WDIO
[with video]
A Hibbing priest is charged with five felony counts of sexual misconduct with a minor.
Twenty-nine-year-old Brian Michael Lederer was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon by the Hibbing Police Department and is being held in the St. Louis County Jail.
Formal charges were filed on Thursday, listing three victims. Two of the victims were under 13 years old, and one was under 16.
Lederer faces three counts of criminal sexual conduct in the second degree, and two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the fourth degree, which also list him as a being in a position of authority over the complainant.
In the criminal complaint, a victim said Lederer would pull on her bra strap and rub her butt. The complaint describes another incident in which Lederer allegedly touched one victim’s crotch through her underwear.
The complaint says one victim was “sobbing” while recounting the alleged incidents to police. Another told police she would “sweat very badly and have a bad feeling around (lederer).”
The alleged victims came forward this week, saying that the sexual abuse started about a year ago and happened on a school playground, by a drinking fountain there and in classrooms. The most recent incident, allegedly occurred while Lederer was a guest in a parishioner’s home for a family celebration.
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