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Sleepy Eye man faces sex charges involving teenage boy

NEW ULM — Four felony criminal sexual conduct charges plus a gross misdemeanor charge were filed against a 40-year-old Sleepy Eye man Jan. 4 in Brown County District Court.

Justin D. Mickelson, 809 1st Avenue S., was accused of having sex with a mentally-impaired teenage boy after his mother told police her son told her to take him to an emergency room Jan. 2. The mother thought her son met the man via Snapchat online, according to court documents.

A Brown County Sheriff’s Office Deputy told a sheriff’s office investigator that the alleged victim’s mother went to bible study on Jan. 2 and returned home at about 8:45 p.m. that night when she said she found out about the incident.

The sheriff’s office investigator arrived at the Sleepy Eye residence at about 12:45 a.m. Jan. 3 and met with the teenage boy and a witness. The alleged victim showed the investigator and deputy a 12-second video from a security camera connected to a cell phone that showed the suspect arriving at the boy’s home earlier that evening. The deputy identified the suspect as Mickelson.

The investigator learned Mickelson drove a tan SUV to the residence about a month ago. The boy said Mickelson figured out where the boy lived through Snapchat mapping.

A witness said a male showed up at the house around Thanksgiving, knocked on the door and asked for the boy. She said he was not at the house. The boy did not use his real name on Snapchat. The man said he was “Justin” and left.

At the Law Enforcement Center, the boy’s mother said she left the home to go to bible study at about 6:30 p.m. and returned home about two hours later. An entryway video showed Mickelson came to the residence at 7:20 p.m., was allowed in by the boy and told the boy to go to the bedroom and he did.

The boy said Mickelson began touching him under his shorts, then put him on the bed, removed the boy’s shorts and had sex with him and left.

Mickelson was charged with two counts of felony 3rd-degree criminal sexual conduct, two counts of 4th-degree criminal sexual conduct and gross misdemeanor 5th-degree criminal sexual conduct.

His bail was set at $40,000 without conditions and $10,000 with conditions Jan. 4. Conditions included not entering the victim’s residence or going within 100 yards of the rural Sleepy Eye residence and surrendering all firearms to law enforcement. He may not live in a residence where others possess firearms. In addition, he was ordered to have no contact with victims.

Mickelson was released from jail. He was scheduled to appear in court at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 15.

Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.

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