Newport man pleads guilty to raping 15-year-old at State Fair last year

Cory Leyde will be sentenced July 17 by Ramsey County District Judge Michael Fetsch for third-degree criminal sexual assault.

Last update: May 26, 2009 - 11:39 PM

A 23-year-old Newport man pleaded guilty Tuesday to third-degree criminal sexual assault for raping a 15-year-old acquaintance after he left the Minnesota State Fair with her in August.

Cory Leyde will be sentenced July 17 by Ramsey County District Judge Michael Fetsch.

According to the charges, the girl left a show at the grandstand and ran into Leyde, whom she knew from her hometown. Leyde offered to go to his car to get something to drink, and she agreed to follow him.

The complaint said he pinned her on a picnic table and raped her while she pushed, hit him and told him to stop.

The plea agreement calls for Leyde to serve a year in the workhouse and register as a sex offender.

Swindling charges against woman are dropped

Charges were dismissed Tuesday against a 34-year-old West St. Paul woman who had been accused of swindling her grandmother out of more than $77,000.

Courtney Fultz had been charged in Ramsey County District Court with felony theft by swindle. According to the complaint, she was given power of attorney over her grandmother's finances in January 2006. In 2008, she made two large withdrawals from her grandmother's certificate of deposit and tried to have her grandmother's condominium put in her name, the complaint said.

Paul Gustafson, a spokesman for the county attorney's office, said prosecutors had asked for a continuance in the trial because of the unavailability of some witnesses, but District Judge Michael Fetsch chose instead to dismiss the charges.

Gustafson said prosecutors want to review the evidence and possibly ask for more investigation before deciding whether to refile the charges.

PAT PHEIFER