State dismisses 1970s child sex abuse charges against Bloomington man

Prosecutors have dropped charges against a 66-year-old man accused of sexually assaulting boys in a Bloomington neighborhood in the 1970s, saying they now realize the statute of limitations to level such charges ran out decades ago.

Kevin E. Belker was scheduled to go on trial this week in Hennepin County District Court on two counts of criminal sexual conduct stemming from alleged assaults on boys who would have been ages 8 to 12 at the time.

Belker, who would have been in his late teens and early 20s at the time of the alleged assaults, was put on leave from his job at a Bloomington middle school when the charges surfaced in December.

Belker's attorney, Travis Keil, argued in a court filing that the County Attorney's Office failed to file the charges until "well after the statute of limitations had run [out]" as the laws were written at the time of the alleged offenses.

Keil's argument noted that Belker needed to be charged by March 1982 on the first-degree count and December 1987 on the second-degree count.

In response, Assistant County Attorney Hilary Hannon wrote to the court that the state was dropping the charges.

"After a review of the law and subsequent changes to the law, the state has found it cannot proceed with prosecution of this matter, because the statute of limitations has expired for the charged offenses," she wrote.

Sarah Doege, policy director for the County Attorney's Office, said Friday that "it was believed that a current statute [applied] that allows for charges to be filed in criminal sexual conduct cases three years from the date of the report being made, when the victim was under 18 at the time of the offense. ... After additional careful review, we determined that statute was not applicable."

The charges were filed Dec. 21 and announced by the County Attorney's Office a day later in a news release sent to the media. The criminal complaint, outlining details about the allegations, was posted on the office's website at the same time.

"There will not be a news release announcing the dismissal as we are still working on the active case," Doege said, adding, "The criminal complaint will remain available [on the office's website]."

When the charges were filed, the district placed Belker on paid administrative leave from his job as a special education aide at Oak Grove Middle School. A district spokesman said Belker resigned Jan. 6, about two years after joining the school system.

Belker also worked in the Edina Public Schools from October 2005 to August 2018 as a paraprofessional and as a summer substitute custodian and after-school recreation leader.