New abuse allegations upend Minnesota's planned release of sex offender

After decades of silence, two men were going to testify in public this week that they were molested as children by a serial rapist at the center of a politically charged sex offender case.

The men, who asked to remain anonymous, said they were motivated to tell their stories publicly for the first time out of concern the state of Minnesota was preparing to release Thomas Duvall, 58, a violent sex offender who has been convicted three times of sexually assaulting teenage girls.

Last week, however, just ahead of a high-profile court hearing on Duvall's potential release, state Department of Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson and an assistant Hennepin County attorney unexpectedly reversed course and moved to oppose Duvall's petition for conditional discharge from the state sex offender program.

The planned testimony may have been a factor in the state's 11th hour about-face on Duvall's release, as their stories cast doubt on whether Duvall owned up to all of his sexual crimes while undergoing treatment in the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP).

Before the men came forward, Duvall's only known victims were women and girls.

One man alleges that he was molested by Duvall at age 7 while playing a childhood game of hide-and-seek about 40 years ago.

He alleges that Duvall, then a teenager, fondled his genitals after enticing him to hide with him under a dark stairwell. "[Duvall] pointed a knife at me and said, 'If you ever tell anyone, then I will kill you,' " the man said. "And I believed him. I was scared."

Both men said they were permanently scarred by the alleged abuse and wanted their stories told publicly because they feared Duvall would reoffend if released.

"I try to be a good Catholic and forgive and forget, but I also don't believe in throwing innocent people in front of a moving train," said one of the men. "And I believe that Duvall is a train wreck and something horrible was going to happen if he was let out."

The two men were among five alleged victims of Duvall's attacks who had prepared to testify at a four-day public hearing that was canceled Monday after Duvall withdrew his petition for discharge. They included a female survivor of a horrific 1987 assault, in which Duvall tied a girl with an electrical cord and repeatedly raped her while hitting her with the handle of a hammer. The woman, who was 17 at the time of the assault, had let Duvall into her apartment to use the phone.

Attorney General Lori Swanson, who moved to block Duvall's release, said that she "was prepared to bring overwhelming evidence" that Duvall was not suitable for release. "I believe that's why Mr. Duvall withdrew his petition and why the government officials with statutory authority reversed course, after they previously supported his petition for discharge," Swanson said.

In August 2013, a special Department of Human Services review board recommended that Duvall be granted conditional release from the sex offender program. In a statement, Jesson said she changed her position "based on new information and recently issued expert reports." These reports are with a Supreme Court appeals panel hearing Duvall's case and have not been made public.

The victim who said he was molested under the stairwell said he recalled Duvall as a popular and charismatic teenager, who resembled David Cassidy in the popular 1970s television show "The Partridge Family."

"[Duvall] was like a rock star," the man said. "He looked like Cassidy right down to the bell-bottom pants. We all looked up to him."

However, for more than a year after the molestation occurred, the man said he would hide in the basement every time he saw Duvall coming near his house. Even now, more than four decades later, the man said he is haunted by the memory of what happened under the stairwell. He still remembers the small pocketknife with the black handle that Duvall pointed at his face.

"It's one of those things that hits you from behind," he said. "I'll be pacing around the house, checking the locks on the windows, making sure the house is locked tight, and then realize that I'm doing it because of him."

The other victim said he has been "confused sexually" ever since Duvall coaxed him into sex more than four decades ago. "It had a lasting effect," he said. "It swayed my sexuality for a long time in my life."

Jeff Johnson, the Republican-endorsed candidate for governor, on Wednesday questioned why state authorities appeared unaware of the two men and their allegations so close to a public hearing on such a high-profile case.

"Why they would reverse their decision at the last second after putting these victims and these victims' families through hell is beyond me," Johnson said. "It shows gross mismanagement of the whole process."

Dr. Michael Farnsworth, a forensic psychiatrist who helped design Minnesota's sex offender program, said the emergence of two male victims likely would not have significantly altered Duvall's risk score for reoffending, given that he had already admitted to assaulting more than 60 victims. "But it would have upped his score," Farnsworth said. "And that was probably enough to give the state political coverage to change their mind."

Staff writer Patrick Condon contributed to this report.

Chris Serres • 612-673-4308