MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A former Minneapolis Police officer who was previously sentenced to two and a half years in prison for luring underage girls on Facebook had his sentence more than tripled on Thursday.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals earlier reversed Bradley Schnickel’s 30-month sentence, saying that the district court judge’s decision to depart from the sentencing guidelines on a downward departure “improperly relied exclusively on offender-related factors.”

Those factors included Schnickel, 34, showing remorse for his actions, acceptance of responsibility and a demonstrated willingness for treatment.

Investigators found more than 700 Facebook contacts Schnickel had made with middle school and high school-aged girls on his computer. He admitted to posing as a younger man in his 20s, even though he was a decade older and married with children.

Schnickel pleaded guilty in February 2014 to charges of criminal sexual conduct, attempted criminal sexual conduct and engaging in electronic communications relating to or describing sexual conduct with a child.

On Thursday, Anoka County District Judge James Cunningham sentenced Schnickel to eight and a half years in prison.

“We are satisfied with the new sentence and hope that the victims and their families can move on to heal from this terrible ordeal,” Anoka County Attorney Tony Palumbo said. “Many lives have been affected by this case.”

Schnickel will be required to submit a sample of his DNA as part of his new sentence, and will have to register as a sex offender and submit to supervision by the Minnesota Department of Corrections for the remainder of his life.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A 47-year-old St. Paul teacher is accused of inappropriate sexual contact involving one of his students, according to charges filed Monday in Ramsey County Court.

Vam Ntxaij Yajzt was charged with one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the incident, which happened May 7.

According to the charges, officers with the St. Paul Police Department were called to Washington High School at 1495 Rice Street on a report of a teacher who grabbed a student inappropriately. The victim told police that Yajzt was the teacher in question.

She told police he wrote her a note after the first period that she come back to see him during the second period because he had work for her. The complaint states she went to see him between 8:50 and 10:15 a.m. They were along in the room together and he asked the girl about her relationship with her boyfriend. She told him everything was going well, and he put his hands on her shoulders and told her he hoped everything was all right.

According to the complaint, he asked to take a photo of the girl and he grabbed his cell phone, which she thought was unusual but was OK with. He was having difficulty taking a photo so she told him she would text a photo to him because she wanted to get back to class.

The complaint states Yajzt then reached out his arms and hugged the girl, sliding his hands down to her hips. He eventually touched her buttocks and squeezed it before the girl flinched and turned around. As that happened, he put his right hand on her right breast. She told police she walked out of his hug because she felt violated but never told him to stop because she was shocked by his actions.

She told police she viewed Yajzt as a father figure and they had never had sexual conversation or spent time together outside of school. The complaint states she had called him four times on his personal phone to discuss a relationship problem, she trusted him and he listened to her problems.

Officers contacted Yajzt, but he declined comment.

The St. Paul School District released a statement that they had learned about the charges late Friday afternoon. The incident was reported to the St. Paul Police Department and the Minnesota Department of Education. He has been placed on administrative leave as the incident is under investigation. Yajzt was hired in August 2004 as a social studies teacher.

If convicted, Yajzt faces up to 25 years in prison and a $35,000 fine.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – An 18-year-old high school student from North Oaks, Minnesota, is accused of coercing a 12- and a 13-year-old girl into performing a sex act on him in an Arden Hills park.

Alexander Patrick Lindeke was charged with with two counts of criminal sexual conduct, in the first and third degrees, and arrested at White Bear Lake High School.

Lindeke met the 12-year-old on the website HotOrNot.com and persuaded her to film and send him a graphic video, according to the complaint.

“Unfortunately, there are still men in our community who think it is okay to exploit vulnerable young girls for their own sexual gratification,” Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said in a statement. “As a community, we need to get serious about how we educate our boys so they understand that girls and women are not sexual objects to be exploited, but must be valued and treated with respect.”

When the girl and her friend met him at Cummings Park, police say Lindeke threatened to publish the video if they didn’t perform a sex act on him in the back seat of his car.

In a separate incident, Lindeke is accused of threatening to publish a video of an underage girl exposing herself to him unless she sent him a photo of her 8-year-old sibling.

The 13-year-old girl picked Lindeke’s photo out of a six-person lineup.

Lindeke had enlisted in the Minnesota National Guard in late December and was scheduled to attend basic training in August.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A former Twin Cities-area high school tennis coach has received a six-year prison sentence for violating his probation by trying to contact a teenage girl he had sex with.

Twenty-eight-year-old Daniel Erik Hubbard Wilson of St. Paul pleaded guilty earlier this year to third-degree criminal sexual conduct. A criminal complaint says Wilson had sex with the girl in 2013 when she was 15. He was her personal coach and her school’s coach.

A judge ordered Wilson to spend a year in jail and 15 years on probation, and stayed a six-year prison sentence pending his compliance with probation terms. But the Ramsey County probation department says he told a third party to post messages on the girl’s Twitter account.

Wilson’s attorney argued Thursday that he needed counseling or treatment, and asked for only jail time.

(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A 27-year-old St. Paul man is accused of breaking into a St. Paul apartment and sexually assaulting a female victim last month, according to charges filed Thursday in Ramsey County Court.

Jacob Michael McKinley faces charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, first-degree burglary and kidnapping, all felonies, in connection with the June 16 incident.

According to a criminal complaint, the female victim woke up in her bedroom at about 4 a.m. that day to a bright light coming through her door from the living room. The woman noticed a shadowy figure in the hallway walking back and forth by her bedroom door. She realized it wasn’t her roommate, became frightened and pretended that she was still sleeping.

The man walked toward the front door, so she got out of bed opened the door and confronted the man. The complaint states the man told her that a man named “Mike” let him in. She asked him  who that was and told him to leave.

The man didn’t leave and charged at her while she was in her bedroom doorway, the complaint states. The suspect pinned her on her bed, removed her underwear and took her phone. The victim tried to get the man off by kneeing him in the stomach and scratching him with her nails.

The complaint states they continued to fight until the man eventually stopped, and she offered to give him money. The suspect took her phone and $46. He tried to pin her down again, forced her to the living room couch and threatened to punch her. The suspect forced the victim to perform oral sex on him and eventually to have sex with him.

The victim eventually got her phone back after the suspect fled the apartment. She called her roommate and went to Regions Hospital for a sexual assault examination.

According to the complaint, police processed the scene at the apartment and determined the suspect got in through an unsecured window that was partially open for an air conditioner. Fingerprints were processed from the scene and identified the suspect as McKinley. The victim also identified McKinley as the suspect in a photo.

Officers went to McKinley’s residence, where he refused to answer the door. His girlfriend approached the residence and let police in, who then arrested McKinley. She told police they had been dating since February and that by early June they were fighting.

The complaint states McKinley spoke with police and denied breaking into the apartment on June 16. He said he spent the night with his girlfriend at his residence because it was his birthday. Police told him that his girlfriend had already told them he wasn’t with her. He said they got into a fight, so he left. He told police he met a woman he thought was named Jasmine near the area of Edmund Avenue and Victoria Street.  Officers showed him a photo of the victim, and he confirmed it was her.

McKinley told police she invited him back to her place and wanted to have sex with him because she had never had sex with black man, the complaint states. He said they engaged in sex acts on their couch, but he stopped because it didn’t feel right.

According to the complaint, McKinley said his fingerprints were on the window he had gained access to because the victim had asked him to fix it. He told police the woman demanded $250 from him after they had sex or she would call the police and say he raped her. He refused to pay and left the residence.

McKinley has three prior convictions for burglary and interference with privacy against a minor under 18. They involved masturbating outside of windows while women were present.

If convicted, McKinley faces up to 70 years in prions and $110,000 in fines.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A 47-year-old school teacher is accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old student.

David Scott Henderson is a special education counselor and substitute teacher at the North Education Center in New Hope.

Police said last Wednesday he brought the victim to his Rogers home and later sexually assaulted her while his kids slept in a nearby room.

Neighbor Tom Daly said he was “disappointed.”

“You don’t want it in your neighborhood,” he said.

Daly lives a couple houses down from Henderson’s family and from where Henderson allegedly assaulted the 16-year-old girl.

“I feel sorry for the three kids they have there,” Daly said.

According to the criminal complaint, the victim described Henderson as “kind of a father figure” to her. Police said he spent time with the girl outside of school.

“This young girl was taken on trips to Wisconsin Dells with the family,” Rogers Police Chief Jeff Beahen said. “The victim’s mother was provided with financial support.”

Police said last Wednesday Henderson picked up the girl and brought her to his house, where they watched movies with his kids.

The victim told police that after everyone went to bed, Henderson pinned her down on the couch and began to assault her.

According to the complaint, when she told him, “No,” he replied, “You can’t really do anything about it. … You owe me.”

“It is that developing, you-owe-me relationship,” Beahen said. “If you turn me in, if you talk about this, your mom isn’t going to get money, you aren’t going to go on the trips, you aren’t going to see my children anymore.”

Henderson did not answer his door Tuesday night, but it’s not the first time police have made an arrest at his home.

In 2002, his wife, Cynthia, was arrested for beating and eventually killing 8-month-old Austin Olson, a boy she was caring for.

She was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

“I would like to see them move because it’s a nice neighborhood. And it’s not the first time we have had problems with them. It’s the second time now,” said Daly.

The complaint said Henderson told officers it was a “dumb decision” to have a student sleep over, but denied having sex with the girl.

Henderson has been charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct. He has been released on bail.

A district spokesperson said that Henderson worked in District 287 for 22 years — from 1993 to 2015 — as a teacher. On Wednesday, the district released a statement: “We are deeply troubled to learn that a District 287 employee was recently charged with serious crimes involving a minor. My heart goes out to those affected.

“This employee has not worked in District programs since June 8, the last day of the 2014-15 school year, and is currently on leave. We are working cooperatively with local authorities and are taking all necessary and appropriate actions with regard to his employment.”

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 19-year-old man is accused of groping a girl and unzipping her shirt in the computer lab of an Apple Valley school.

Jerel Kievonte Warren, 19, is charged with fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct for the incident, which happened in April.

The girl was watching videos with a friend in the school’s computer lab, when Warren approached and started touching her stomach, according to the criminal complaint.

After she told him to stop, the complaint says, he continued to touch her back, hair, buttocks and breasts inappropriately and unzipped her shirt, saying, “I saw your boobs.”

When she left the room, he pocketed her cell phone and, when she tried to recover it, touched her breast, the complaint says.

If convicted, Warren faces up to a year behind bars and a $3,000 fine.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A Northfield man faces sexual assault, coercion and prostitution charges after being accused of posing as law enforcement and forcing a prostitute to have sex.

The Dakota County Attorney’s Office says 26-year-old Alex Michael Hollinger is accused of connecting with a woman via backpage.com to have sex for money, but then claimed to be associated with law enforcement and threatened her to have sex with him for free or face jail.

The criminal complaint states a West St. Paul woman reported to police in December of 2013 that a man agreed to pay her $250 for sex during the last week of November.

The two met up at the Mall of America for drinks, then went back to her apartment, where Hollinger told the woman as she was undressing that he was involved in law enforcement and was going to school for prostitution stings. She began to cry and said she was afraid to lose her daughter. Hollinger allegedly told her she could sleep with him or “go to jail and maybe lose your daughter.”

The victim said she cried the entire time, and Hollinger left a $10 bill on the floor before leaving. He later texted to say he wanted what they had done to be a “regular thing.”

The woman says she came to police after Hollinger would not stop texting and eventually showed up at her residence, where he asked her mother if he could see her, giving her online name.

The phone number she gave police was traced to Hollinger, and investigators say he matched the description she provided.

Rochester police then started to investigate Hollinger in February of 2014, when a woman told police a very similar story. A search of Hollinger’s Rochester home uncovered clothing from two different police departments, and his cellphone revealed that he had been contacting several escort agencies for sex. He had even been in a text conversation about sex for money on the day the search warrant was executed.

Hollinger denies ever paying women for sex, and could not explain the evidence from his cellphone. Investigators last questioned him about the West St. Paul case in mid-July of this year. He is not yet in police custody.

He was charged Wednesday with fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct, one count of coercion and one could of prostitution. He could face up to 18 months in jail.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – An 18-year-old high school student from North Oaks, Minnesota, has been sentenced to one year behind bars for coercing a 12- and a 13-year-old girl into performing a sex act on him in an Arden Hills park.

When Alexander Patrick Lindeke is released from the Ramsey County Workhouse he’ll be placed on probation for 20 years and registered as a sex offender for life. If he violates the terms of his probation, he faces more than 14 years in prison.

Lindeke pleaded guilty to a felony count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct on Sept. 25. He was arrested at White Bear Lake High School in late May.

Lindeke met the 12-year-old on the website HotOrNot.com and persuaded her to film and send him a graphic video, according to the criminal complaint.

“Unfortunately, there are still men in our community who think it is okay to exploit vulnerable young girls for their own sexual gratification,” Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said in June. “As a community, we need to get serious about how we educate our boys so they understand that girls and women are not sexual objects to be exploited, but must be valued and treated with respect.”

When the girl and her friend met him at Cummings Park, police say Lindeke threatened to publish the video if they didn’t perform a sex act on him in the back seat of his car.

In a separate incident, Lindeke was accused of threatening to publish a video of an underage girl exposing herself to him unless she sent him a photo of her 8-year-old sibling.

The 13-year-old girl picked Lindeke’s photo out of a six-person lineup.

Lindeke had enlisted in the Minnesota National Guard in late December and was scheduled to attend basic training in August.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A former teacher who worked with hearing impaired students in the north metro pleaded guilty last week to taking compromising photos of students in his classroom.

Anoka County court officials say 48-year-old David Harrell, of Chaska, pleaded guilty last Tuesday to fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct, interfering with a child’s privacy and possessing child pornography.

Harrell was accused of misconduct earlier this year after it was reported to officials in the St. Francis School District that Harrell was seen with a young student sitting on his lap.

During a subsequent investigation, thousands of images of children were found on Harrell’s computer. They showed children in his classroom in compromising positions.

Harrell was a contracted teacher for the St. Francis School District and Spring Lake Park Schools.

He is slated to be sentenced on Dec. 15.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A Twin Cities priest who was previously acquitted of criminal sexual conduct charges has been temporarily removed from the ministry.

Rev. Mark Huberty was arrested in 2013 and charged with one count each of fourth- and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

The complaint said that Huberty and a woman met in 2008 when she came to him for counseling at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church in Maplewood. He was accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with someone he was counseling and of groping her without consent.

In 2014, a jury found Huberty not guilty.

On Tuesday, Archbishop Bernard Hebda said, “I have the sad responsibility of communicating that Rev. Mark Huberty has been temporarily removed from ministry for the duration of a formal canonical process that has been initiated to address some serious allegations that have come to the attention of the Archdiocese.”

Hebda said that following the case’s closure in court, an internal review was conducted.

The Ministerial Review Board “found that there was sufficient evidence to suggest Rev. Huberty may have committed a serious offense under canon law,” Hebda said. “Removing a priest from ministry, even temporarily, is gravely serious to me and to the Church.  But based on the evidence and testimony from those involved, this is the proper course of action.”

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The St. Louis County Attorney’s Office says an Ely police officer has been formally charged with having sex with a teen.

Sgt. Jason Allen Carlson, 37, was charged Friday with one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct for allegedly having sexual contact with a teenage girl last December.

Carlson, from Aurora, is a ten-year veteran of the Ely Police Department. He is now on supervised release with bail set at $15,000. His next court appearance is set for Dec. 21.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A convicted sexual predator is charged again with raping a teenage girl — this time at gunpoint in a Minneapolis alley earlier this month.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s office says 34-year-old Charles Edward Stevenson was charged Thursday with one count of first-degree penetration while armed with a dangerous weapon and one count of providing false information while registering as a sex offender.

The criminal complaint says Stevenson is accused of grabbing a 15-year-old girl as she was walking down the 2900 block of Irving Avenue North during the early morning of Nov. 2.

The victim says Stevenson, from Minneapolis, put a gun to her head and then took her to two separate alleys – raping her in each one. She says Stevenson then threatened her, saying that he had followed her for a long time and knew where she lived.

She went to police and picked out Stevenson in a photo gallery of sex offenders. Police say she started shaking and crying upon seeing his image.

Stevenson was previously convicted of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in 2003, when he raped another 15-year-old girl. He was also convicted in 2009 of aiding and abetting prostitution. Both convictions required him to register as a sex offender, with the second offense requiring him to register until 2027. He was convicted in 2012 of failing to register and was then required to register until 2032.

He lied about his address when he registered last summer, giving a north Minneapolis address when he in fact was living in an apartment in Minnetonka.

Stevenson will have to serve a minimum of two years of a possible 35-year prison sentence if convicted of these new charges.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office has charged a St. Paul man with kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct after he allegedly locked up a young man in his basement and sexually assaulted him for days.

Court documents say 55-year-old Wilbert Glover came up behind a 19-year-old man on a north Minneapolis street Friday and strangled him until he passed out.

Glover then took him to his home in St. Paul, chained him to a metal bar attached to a concrete wall in his basement and repeatedly raped him for four days.

The accused left his home Tuesday, and the victim was able to free himself, shut off power to the entire home and use a fire extinguisher to break out of a bathroom window.

The victim then crawled and rolled through yards, knocking on neighbors doors until someone answered and helped him.

(credit: CBS)

Officers canvased the neighborhood and found a home on the 1200 block of Marion Street that had a damaged window that looked like someone had broken through from the inside.

(credit: CBS)

They also noticed that all the basement windows were boarded up, and a reading of home’s electrical meter showed that the power had been shut off for hours. They discovered the suspect’s name on a mailbox, and spotted several home security-style cameras around the yard.

(credit: CBS)

After running a background check on the suspect, officers spotted a car driving down the block that fit the description of one Glover owned. They stopped the driver and questioned him. He claimed that he didn’t live on the block and was just visiting a friend who lived on the corner. The man was then unable to tell officers the name of that friend.

A neighbor verified that the driver was in fact Glover, and they took him into custody. Glover asked for a lawyer and declined to be interviewed by investigators.

The complaint also states that surveillance video showed Glover repeatedly striking his head against the door frame of his holding cell. Officers later found Glover on the floor of his cell in the fetal position. He had a head wound and was near a pool of his own blood.

“This is a violent and disturbing case involving kidnapping and rape of a young man,” Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said. “We are thankful that the victim’s ordeal is over and that the defendant is now in custody. We will seek justice for the victim and community.”

Glover had been convicted in 1987 for attempted murder and kidnapping in Illinois.

He will make his first court appearance Monday. He could face up to 70 years in prison if convicted of both charges.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A former student at the University of Minnesota has been charged with raping two women he met at college parties.

Daniel York Drill-Mellum, 22, was arrested on Christmas Eve and now faces five felony counts of criminal sexual conduct in connection with the alleged 2014 incidents.

According to the criminal complaints, one of the victims reported being assaulted by Drill-Mellum at a Halloween party at the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house. The then 18-year-old victim says she was led into a laundry room by Drill-Mellum, where they began kissing. She said he started putting his hands up her shirt and, when she tried to stop him, he forced himself on her, saying “I know you want this.”

The victim told investigators the more she struggled, the more aggressive he got.

A separate complaint alleges Drill-Mellum assaulted a 19-year-old woman a week later after meeting her at a party at an apartment complex on the 1000 block of University Avenue Southeast.

She told police she and he went over to his apartment across the street to get more alcohol. Once there, he offered her vodka and began kissing her. She said she wanted to go back to the party, but he persisted, the complaint says.

Eventually, she said she performed oral sex on him in hopes that he would let her go back across the street, but then he held her down on the bed and violently assaulted her, the complaint says. She was taken to the emergency room afterwards with multiple lacerations and bleeding.

Drill-Mellum was scheduled for an appearance in Hennepin District Court Monday afternoon. The Star Tribune reports his father, Richard Drill-Mellum, is a lecturer at the U’s school of public health.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A 33-year-old man has been linked to the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl in St. Paul back in 2003, according to charges filed Thursday in Ramsey County Court.

Eric John Lavik has been charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct and first-degree burglary in connection with the June 2003 case.

According to the charges, St. Paul police were called at about 2:02 a.m. on June 28, 2003, to a two-story home on the 1300 block of Randolph Avenue on a report of criminal sexual conduct. When officers arrived, they spoke with a 15-year-old victim who said she was sleeping on the second floor of the home when she woke up to a man in her bedroom.

According to the complaint, she told officers the man asked her if she wanted to live or die. She said she wanted to live, and he told her to turn over and lay on her stomach. He asked her if she had any money, and she directed him to $25 in her purse.

Lavik was wearing a mask and asked her age. She said she was 15 and he told her if she gave him oral sex, nobody else in the home would be hurt. The complaint states he asked her if she had ever done that, and she said no.

The complaint states he then pulled up his shirt and pulled his pants down. He put a blanket over her head and forced her to perform oral sex on him. He then told her to lay on her back and continued to perform inappropriate sexual acts on her. He told her if she told anyone that it happened, he would be back to get her.

He then left the residence, and she immediately told her parents what happened. The complaint states her parents were sleeping during the entire incident.

Police processed the scene, and DNA taken from semen on the comforter where the incident happened matches Lavik. The complaint states there were multiple contacts between St. Paul police and the victim in the area where the sexual assault and the burglary took place. Lavik had also been arrested multiple times for trespassing in a church near the victim’s residence.

Lavik was also arrested in Michigan in 2014 for larceny.

Authorities say Lavik’s current whereabouts are unknown. If convicted, he faces up to 35 years in prison and $65,000 in fines.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO/AP) — Months after three Gophers basketball players were suspended following a sex video posted to a player’s social media account, another player has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault.

Hennepin County Jail records show Reggie Lynch, 21, was arrested Sunday afternoon for probably cause criminal sexual conduct. He was arrested by the University of Minnesota Police Department at about 1:24 p.m. Sunday. The University of Minnesota Athletic Department said in a release that Lynch has been suspended indefinitely from all team activities pending the outcome of an investigation.

Lynch sat out the 2015-16 season due to NCAA rules after transferring from Illinois State. He is originally from Edina and was expected to be a significant contributor to this year’s team and possibly start at center.

“As an athletics department and a university, we are committed to respect toward all members of the community and we hold all of our student-athletes accountable to the highest standards,” the university statement said.

Coach Richard Pitino heads into his fourth season next year with a host of questions about whether the Golden Gophers can bounce back from a trying year. Minnesota went just 2-16 in the Big Ten Conference and finished 8-23, the most losses in the program’s 121-year history.

Three players were suspended at the end of the season after a sex video briefly appeared on social media. One of the players, Kevin Dorsey, will transfer. Nate Mason and Dupree McBrayer have been reinstated.

The Gophers were looking forward to an infusion of talent next season, including Texas A&M transfer Davonte Fitzgerald and Lynch, whose future is now unclear.

(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A Gopher men’s basketball player is out of jail but his legal worries are not yet over.

Reggie Lynch, 21, was arrested on campus early Sunday morning for an alleged rape in his dorm room.

By law, prosecutors have only 36 hours to charge an inmate or release them from custody. Rather than seek an extension and keep Lynch jailed, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman decided to defer charges up to 90 days, allowing for a more complete investigation.

What happened in the dorm room inside Wilkins Hall late Saturday night to early Sunday morning remains unknown.  Freeman’s office deferred a decision on formal charges, saying that more investigation is needed.

The office issued a written statement, saying, “there is no hard deadline on when that work has to be finished, but it is generally no longer than 90 days.”

With an arm around his mother’s shoulder, escorted by family and counsel, the 21-year old was silent as he left the Hennepin County jail shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday.

Lynch ignored reporter’s questions as to what happened that led up to the accusations of criminal sexual conduct, or about his future with the University of Minnesota men’s basketball program.

The former Edina High School player transferred to the Gophers in 2015 and by NCAA rules had to sit out the season. He was expected to play a leading role in reviving a troubled basketball program in the upcoming 2016-17 season.

According to the initial call, a 19-year-old female reported the alleged rape happened in Lynch’s dorm room at 2:20 a.m. Sunday.

Late Tuesday afternoon, coach Richard Pitino released a statement into the Lynch matter, saying in part,  “I am deeply disappointed with the recent allegations and the impact the situation has on all involved.”

He confirmed that Lynch will remain suspended from the team pending an outcome of the investigation.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — An Aitkin girls basketball coach is accused of sexually abusing one of her players after the two became involved in a relationship, according to charges filed in Aitkin County Court.

Kristy Hoge, 24 and a fourth grade teacher, has been charged with two felony counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, position of authority, in connection with the case. She has been placed on administrative leave while the case is under investigation.

According to the charges, Hoge was involved in a relationship with a 17-year-old student.

According to a criminal complaint, a sergeant with the Aitkin Police Department met with the victim and her parents on May 3. The victim said Hoge was a floater coach between the junior high and varsity girls basketball teams at Aitkin and last December, the victim went to Hoge because she was struggling with her jump shot. The victim was telling Hoge about issues she was having with her boyfriend and friends.

The complaint states the victim told authorities Hoge was easy to talk to and the two became friends. The two started to have feelings for each other, and they started kissing around the middle of March. That led to inappropriate touching, and the two would meet for five or six encounters at a cemetery just outside Aitkin. Other incidents also happened at Hoge’s residence.

The complaint states the last time the two met was April 30.

According to the complaint, the victim’s mother became aware of the relationship after another coach told her some of the other coaches had concerns. The victim had asked her mother if Hoge could spend the night at their house while the victim’s parents were out of town. The mother told her daughter it wasn’t appropriate, and the victim told her mother that Hoge had spent three nights at their home and Hoge slept in her bed.

At about 11 a.m. on May 3, authorities contacted Hoge to come to the sheriff’s office. At about 11:37 a.m., authorities received a call for a suicide attempt with a throat injury. Officers were told Hoge had attempted to roll her car by driving off the road but was unsuccessful. She then grabbed a knife and started slicing her throat. She twas taken to Riverwood Health Center for treatment.

Hoge was booked into the Aitkin County Jail last week and released after posting bail. She was put on administrative leave May 3.

If convicted on all counts, Hoge faces up to 50 years in jail and $100,000 in fines.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The Eden Prairie Police Department is investigating a reported sexual assault that happened on Saturday.

Authorities were called just before 3 p.m. Saturday to Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina on a report of an incident involving criminal sexual conduct earlier in the day in Eden Prairie. No other information is available and police haven’t released any information about a possible suspect.

Authorities say the incident remains under investigation.