Police point to potential crimes against minors by man, 22, who posed as White Bear Lake student

Police said Wednesday they are investigating possible “unlawful conduct involving interactions with minors” by a 22-year-old man who school officials say fraudulently enrolled and attended White Bear Lake Area High School as a student-athlete until he was exposed.

This development comes one day after state Rep. Elliott Engen, R-Lino Lakes, sent a letter to Superintendent Wayne Kazmierczak calling for his immediate resignation after high school Principal Russell Reetz told families that a man “appears to have provided fraudulent documentation and a false identity to enroll” at the school. Engen’s district includes communities served by the White Bear Lake school district.

Reetz’s letter went on to say the discovery was made by “staff members, families and students who saw something and decided to report it.”

White Bear Lake police said the Forest Lake man has been booked into the Washington County jail in connection with him violating terms of his probation stemming from a gross-misdemeanor indecent exposure conviction in March.

White Bear Lake Police Chief Dale Hager told the Minnesota Star Tribune on Wednesday that his department “is aware of this [enrollment] incident. ... We are looking into any and all potential criminal charges related to this/these incidents, and are aggressively investigating all.”

Late Wednesday afternoon, the department said in a statement that “while no charges have been filed at this time, our investigators are pursuing possible criminal violations related to fraud, forgery and unlawful conduct involving interactions with minors.”

The Star Tribune has confirmed the man’s identity in jail records and other sources, but generally does not identify suspects before they are charged.

The Star Tribune has reached out to the man’s attorney and close family members for further information about his time at White Bear Lake Area High School and the criminal accusations.

Engen contended in his letter that “this failure represents a catastrophic lapse in basic enrollment verification protocols, student safety measures and administrative oversight, which are core responsibilities that fall squarely under your leadership as superintendent.”

The Star Tribune reached out to Kazmierczak for his response to Engen’s letter, but a district spokeswoman said the superintendent had no comment.

Engen, a 2017 White Bear Lake graduate whose brother is senior there, provided to the Star Tribune a copy of this season’s Bears football roster that lists the man as KJ Perry, an apparent alias. Engen also sent the Star Tribune an earlier season’s football roster for Forest Lake Area High School that has the man’s real name. The same name appears on the Star Tribune’s roster for Forest Lake in 2021.

Forest Lake school district spokeswoman Renae Reedy confirmed Wednesday to the Star Tribune that the man was a student there until January 2023 and that he played football there.

Engen’s brother, Sawyer Engen, said he knew the student as “KJ” and would pass him in the White Bear Lake halls on occasion this fall. He said Perry was on the junior varsity squad and portrayed himself either as a junior or a senior.

District officials have declined to answer any questions from the Star Tribune beyond what was in the principal’s disclosure to families, including how often the enrollee attended classes or how the district’s enrollment procedure was compromised.

Reetz told families the following:

“We received reports that an individual enrolled at WBLAHS was over the age of 21 and promptly started an investigation. Upon our initial investigation, we have determined that while enrolling this individual we followed our enrollment process, which is as rigorous as state law allows. The individual appears to have provided fraudulent documentation and a false identity to enroll.

“We are continuing to investigate the situation and are working closely with the White Bear Lake Police Department, which is also conducting an investigation.”