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Public School Employee Charged With Sexual Assault Of Children 40 Years Later

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Marlo Safi Culture Reporter
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An employee at a Minneapolis public school was charged with sexually assaulting multiple children more than 40 years after the crimes allegedly took place, numerous sources reported.

Kevin Belker, 65, was charged with felony first and second-degree criminal sexual conduct related to assaults on boys ages 8 to 12 that took place between 1973 and 1980, Star Tribune reported Tuesday. (RELATED: FBI Asks Public To Report Child Sexual Abuse During Zoom Meetings Through New Online Questionnaire)

Belker was a former longtime employee at the Edina Public Schools between 2005 and 2018, and has been a special education paraprofessional at Bloomington School District since September 2018. 

Authorities did not know about the abuse until a Bloomington School District employee notified police after one of Belker’s alleged victims complained to the district. The victim had been in counseling and recalled being molested by Belker. Police launched an investigation in November.

Belker would have been in his late teens to mid-20s at the time of the assaults of five boys. The criminal complaint said that one victim recalled neighborhood mothers speaking about him, and that parents had an idea about what Belker was “doing to young boys.” Belker had a younger sibling that was close in age to the victims.

Four other victims also came forward about alleged assaults, which they say usually happened at his home, but at least one assault occurred at a movie theater.

Three of the victims were brothers from one family, and the other two victims were brothers from another family. The complaint says that Belker allegedly sexually touched the two brothers while babysitting them when their parents were out of town. The alleged abuse happened in the neighborhood where Belker still lives.

Belker was placed on administrative leave at Bloomington School District, which said that during his time working there, no complaints were made against him. Edina School District said “there were no disciplinary actions taken” against Belker when he was employed there.