A 43-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday to molesting two Lakeville boys, one of the first prosecutions under a 2005 Minnesota law that increased penalties for sex offenders. The law provides a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole.
Robert O. Bollett pleaded guilty in Dakota County District Court to two counts of criminal sexual conduct involving two brothers, then 12 and 15, in August and September.
A judge will formally sentence Bollett on Feb. 29. Under terms of the plea deal with the Dakota County attorney's office, Bollett probably faces two concurrent life sentences, but with eligibility for parole after 12 years.
According to court documents, the boys' mother told police in October that she had seen Bollett, who lived with the family off and on, in bed with her older son, rubbing her younger son's genitals and taking a shower with both boys at once.
Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom pursued Bollett's case under the new law, which allows life without parole for certain sex crimes involving "heinous elements," such as torture, mutilation or multiple victims.
The law was enacted after the murder of Dru Sjodin, a college student who was kidnapped and killed by a convicted rapist.
Before the legislation was passed, sex offenders could receive life without parole -- the most severe sentence in Minnesota -- only if they murdered their victims, Backstrom said.
Backstrom said he pursued the strong penalty because of Bollett's record of sex offenses against minors, including convictions in Carver County in 1988 and in Hennepin County in 1994.
