Charges allege dad molested baby sitter

A Dakota County drug felon has been charged with having sex with a teenager who baby sat with his kids. The charges allege repeated assaults from 1999 through 2002.

The woman, now in her mid-20s, came forward recently while in the process of "coming clean" off drugs and reported what had happened to her years ago, a spokeswoman for the Dakota County attorney's office said Wednesday.

Those revelations led to five felony counts of criminal sexual conduct against David W. Molkenbur, 40. He was arrested Tuesday by Rosemount police in Lakeville.

In 2007, Molkenbur was convicted of being a methamphetamine cook in Farmington. He is now accused of getting his baby sitter hooked on drugs and using a position of authority to carry out sex crimes.

In 1999, at age 14, when the girl was not getting along with her parents, she moved in with Molkenbur and his wife and acted as their baby sitter, and that's when a sexual relationship began, according to a criminal complaint. The girl and the Molkenburs lived in Rosemount, Apple Valley and Lakeville.

In 2000, the couple divorced and Molkenbur's wife moved out. The girl stayed on, continuing to have a sexual relationship with Molkenbur until she was 19, court documents say.

At the behest of detectives, the woman recently placed a series of five phone calls to Molkenbur, which were recorded. In those recordings, the complaint says, Molkenbur stated that he should have ended his marriage as soon as he started his relationship with the teenager. He also spoke of the two being "lost in a world of love and lust" at the time, the complaint says.

Molkenbur has been charged in Dakota County District Court with one count each of first-degree and second-degree criminal sexual conduct and also three counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

He was being held Wednesday in the Dakota County jail pending a court appearance.

Records show that in 2004, Molkenbur, then of Farmington, was convicted of domestic abuse the previous year.

In December 2007, Molkenbur was sentenced to six months in the Dakota County jail and 10 years' probation for conspiracy to commit a first-degree drug crime, in connection with manufacturing meth. He also has served shorter stints in jail for other crimes, including drug possession.

Joy Powell • 952-882-9017