Charges: Man sexually assaulted two girls in St. Cloud school, a third in library

A onetime St. Cloud Tech High School student has been charged with sexually assaulting three teenage girls over many months in 2018, at times in the school or in a public library.

Deshun T. Nathan, 20, of Sauk Rapids, was charged in Stearns County District Court with third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Nathan was charged last week by summons and has yet to be booked into jail. He remains free, with no future hearing date set because of limits placed on judicial proceedings tied to the coronavirus outbreak.

Assistant County Attorney Ole Tvedten explained that his office will not seek Nathan's arrest "unless a substantial likelihood exists that the defendant will fail to respond to a summons, the defendant's location is not reasonably discoverable, or the defendant's arrest is necessary to prevent imminent harm to anyone."

No attorney is listed in court records for Nathan, and contact information for him was not immediately available.

Nathan connected with each girl through Snapchat and acknowledged the sexual conduct with all three, the criminal complaints disclosed.

According to the charges, based in part on interviews with each 15-year-old girl:

In March or April 2018, a girl was approached by Nathan and another male at the school at its former location on S. 12th Avenue. The two cornered her and begged her to have sex with both at the same time.

The girl gave in and was led to an electrical room in the basement, which Nathan opened with a stolen master key. The sexual assault occurred there.

At school the next day, several students said they saw a video of the encounter. She said she was unaware of the video.

A second girl also said she met Nathan through Snapchat. He invited her to his apartment and video-recorded the assault, which also happened a day later.

Nathan admitted to the girl's allegations and said one encounter also occurred in the nursing room at the St. Cloud Library.

A third teen said Nathan asked her to have sex. She said she hesitated at first before relenting. The two went to the same electrical room in the school, where the assault occurred.

The encounters continued at his apartment, and she suspected he video-recorded one of them.

The suspected accomplice in the first case has been charged as a juvenile, but details and the nature of the charges in his case were not released because he was under 16 years old at the time of the alleged encounter.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482