Lakeville Dad Accused of Abandoning Son Makes Minnesota Court Appearance

A this summer and heading for California made his first Minnesota court appearance today on a charge of child neglect.

Steven Alexander Cross, 60, was led into the in-custody courtroom at the Dakota County Courthouse in Hastings just after 10:30 a.m., wearing a green-and-white striped jail coverall and yellow shower shoes, his hands shackled together to a belt at his waist.

Cross sat quietly before the proceeding, clutching a sheaf of documents and occasionally wiping his face with a tissue. He stood and faced Judge Tim Wermager as his court-appointed attorney, Chris Lehmann, asked the judge to release his client on his promise to make all court appearances.

At the request of the county attorney’s office, Wermager set bail at $6,000 without conditions, or $5,000 with conditions, including that Cross make no attempt to contact his son—who is living in foster care—without approval from Dakota County social services.

Cross remained in the Dakota County Jail this afternoon.

, Cross was charged in August with child neglect, a gross misdemeanor, after police say he left a note for his son and fled Minnesota. The note told the boy that he couldn’t find work as an architect, and he was leaving because the sheriff was going to take their house.  

Cross’s Lakeville home was in January, and was seized by the sheriff at the end of August.

The note told the 11-year-old to get his PlayStation and go to a neighbor’s house. The tearful boy, who rode his bicycle to the neighbor’s home, has been in foster care since mid-July and is expected to be sent to live permanently with a relative.

The boy has had no contact with his mother, Katik Kristina Porter, for years. Cross reportedly told the boy that she was dead, but in the note he left, he admitted that she was alive.

Porter, who is believed to be in the Twin Cities, contacted Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom’s office for the first time on Aug. 31, leaving a voice mail. She has not responded to requests for comment.

Cross was arrested Aug. 30 near Cambria, CA, Police say he was living in his car and working at a deli when he was found, and that he was surprised to hear that criminal charges had been filed against him.

Last week, Cross to KSTP-TV in the Twin Cities, saying his “plan was right” and he would do the same thing again. 

Lehmann told the judge that Cross has made arrangements to live with friends in Burnsville, and that he isn’t a flight risk, pointing out that Cross didn’t know about the criminal charges when he left Minnesota in July.

Backstrom confirmed earlier that Cross is also being investigated for fraud, with possible criminal charges forthcoming.

The judge set an omnibus hearing in Cross’s case for Oct. 3.

Before he was led out of the courtroom, Cross—seeming confused and uncertain—asked Lehmann, “Will I be able to talk to you again?” Lehmann told him he would.