NEW ULM — A 39-year-old Hanska man was ruled guilty of two first-degree criminal sexual conduct charges and one second-degree criminal sexual conduct charge by Brown County District Court Judge Robert Docherty Wednesday.

Christopher Lee Konakowitz was originally scheduled for a four-day jury trail this week but agreed to a stipulated evidence court trial Tuesday. A pre-sentence investigation was ordered but a sentencing date has not been set.

Charges were filed May 1, 2020, against Konakowitz after a 25-year-old woman made a Facebook post in November 2019. She stated he committed the same offense against her in early 2001 when she was young after he was arrested on criminal sexual conduct charges in another case.

The woman told authorities she didn’t tell anyone about being sexually assaulted until she told her mother when she was 10 years old and Konakowitz was 19 years old, and that she forgot about being a victim until she saw Konakowitz on a jail roster.

On April 23, 2020, Brown County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Jeremy Reed filed a search warrant request for records regarding a disclosure Konakowitz made while on probation for an earlier offense. Reed received a statement Konakowitz made in which he admitted to his offense of conviction involving a five-year-old girl.

On April 24, 2020, Reed met with another woman and a Committee Against Domestic Abuse (CADA) advocate. The woman said she was about four or five years old at the time of the offense she described in her Facebook post when Konakowitz sexually assaulted her.

Reed called Konakowitz on May 1, 2020, and told him another victim came forward. Konakowitz admitted he made mistakes in the past, which was why he went to treatment.

In April and July 2021, Brown County juries found Konakowitz guilty of felony criminal sexual conduct in two separate cases for molesting three girls under age 13 multiple times between 1999 and 2002 and once about six years ago.

Last Wednesday, Konakowitz was sentenced to prison and may be eligible for release in early 2035. He was ordered to spend the rest of his life on probation, and he must register as a predatory offender.

Konakowitz’s sentence for the latest convictions will run concurrently with his previous sentences. He remains in the Brown County Jail.

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