A 23-year-old man was put on probation and sentenced to time in the county workhouse after admitting to the repeated sexual assault of a 14-year-old student at the Richfield school where he worked.
Joshua James Moton, 23, of Bloomington was sentenced in Hennepin County District Court on Jan. 20 after pleading guilty to one count each of first- and second-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the numerous encounters at Richfield Middle School for at least a month this past spring.
Over the objections of the prosecution, Judge Sarah West set aside a 14¼-year term and sentenced Moton to a year in the workhouse and five years’ supervised probation.
West said in her departure report to the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission that Moton “is particularly amenable to probation, has shown success with community-based programming [and] has readily accepted responsibility.”
While a campus supervisor, Moton’s responsibilities included escorting students from classrooms to elsewhere in the building along with duties as a paraprofessional and coach for several sports teams, the criminal complaint noted.
Police went to the school on May 13 on a report that Moton was sexually assaulting a 14-year-old student.
The student told an officer that Moton kissed her while escorting her from class about a month earlier. Several times followed when he took her from class to an area down near the gym, where he assaulted her.
