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UPDATE: Mpls Cop Molested 3 Children - allegedly
http://twincitiescarry.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=14471
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Author:  Traveler [ Fri Sep 03, 2010 12:41 pm ]
Post subject:  UPDATE: Mpls Cop Molested 3 Children - allegedly

http://www.twincities.com/ci_15978336?nclick_check=1

Quote:
A decade of abuse, a cop accused

By Elizabeth Mohr

Updated: 09/03/2010 11:38:28 AM CDT


A longtime Minneapolis police officer from Oak Park Heights, who served as a school resource officer, has been accused of sexually abusing three young female relatives for more than a decade.

On Wednesday, the Washington County attorney's office charged John Eric Skoglund, 52, with four felony counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

A warrant was issued for his arrest, but he had not been detained as of Thursday evening, according to county jail officials.

Skoglund is accused of molesting the girls starting when one was 5 years old.

The Pioneer Press does not generally identify victims of alleged sex crimes.

A call to Skoglund's home Thursday was not immediately returned.

Dan Skoglund, a relative, said Thursday that one of the girls "kept this to herself for so long ... this has been happening to her her whole life. She didn't think anyone would believe her."

The decision to come forward with allegations was made after two of the girls determined they'd both been molested, Dan Skoglund said.

John Skoglund has been a police officer for about 20 years, Dan Skoglund said.

Minneapolis police Sgt. William Palmer confirmed that John Skoglund was a school resource officer but said he was on leave.

He wouldn't discuss details about the leave because it is a personnel matter.

According to a criminal complaint, a female told Oak Park Heights police in early August that Skoglund had molested her from age 5 to 18. She said two other girls in the family also were abused.

The two older girls reported Skoglund touched their breasts and vaginal areas. The youngest said there was skin-to-skin contact, limited to her back and stomach, according to the complaint.

The family confronted Skoglund with the accusations Aug. 11 at an intervention-style meeting at a church, Dan Skoglund said. They told him that police had been contacted.

"At the time we spoke as a family at the church, he said that he would sort of comply with everything," Dan Skoglund said. "He admitted to it then. We had said that we went to the police, that this was bigger than our family now. At the time, he was so removed and so emotionless about the whole thing."

John Skoglund has been staying with relatives or at a hotel since the accusations emerged, the complaint said.

Contacted by an investigator, Skoglund refused to discuss the alleged incidents, according to the complaint.

Dan Skoglund said the allegations surprised the family, but they remain united and supportive of the girls.

"As a (relative) who — and never having anything like this happen to him — there's an immense guilt," Dan Skoglund said. "There's an urgency that this is bigger than our family and that there could be another victim out there, another child."

Three of the charges against Skoglund carry a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.

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