A former guard at the Red Wing Juvenile Detention Center was acquitted this week of charges that she sexually assaulted three juvenile male inmates.
A Goodhue County jury deliberated two hours Wednesday after a 2 1/2-week trial, finding Suzanne Walstrom, 39, of Plum City, Wis., not guilty on all charges, including one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and multiple counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.
"It sends a clear message that if you're going to make serious allegations, you'd better have the evidence to back it up," said her attorney, Ryan Pacyga.
Drug charges are pending against Walstrom in Goodhue County.
Walstrom also was the subject of two lawsuits filed last year in Ramsey County District Court by male inmates who accused her of sexual abuse. The lawsuits, which also named current and former state corrections officials as defendants, were filed separately in March 2011 and then closed administratively about two months later pending possible changes to the complaints, court records show. Neither case has been revived.
Walstrom, who worked in a cottage where sex offenders resided, was fired from the Red Wing facility in April 2010.
STAFF REPORTS
