Teacher Convicted Of Sexually Assaulting Students In Washington County

WASHINGTON COUNTY, MN — A former Forest Lake middle school teacher was found guilty Friday of charges connected to the sexual assaults of two students.

A jury convicted James E. Carter, 58, of one charge of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and one charge of fourth-degree criminal sexual, the Washington County Attorney’s Office said Monday in a news release.

Carter, who taught industrial tech at Forest Lake Area Middle School, was found not guilty of a second charge of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

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According to the criminal complaint, two teens who were Carter’s former students told police he sexually assaulted them several times at his home.

One of the teens said Carter told them they could complete a community service requirement by helping him clean his classroom and do other tasks, prosecutors said.

The teen also said Carter took them out to restaurants and paid them for various projects at his house after they developed a friendship, according to the complaint.

Prosecutors said Carter sexually assaulted the teens multiple times in 2019. Both teens came forward after talking to each other about the assaults in August 2020, according to the criminal complaint.

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Washington County Assistant Attorneys Keshini Ratnayake and Kayla Wengronowitz praised the teens for reporting Carter and for “their patience throughout the process.”

“We are incredibly proud of these two individuals for having the courage to come forward,” the prosecutors said in a joint statement. “They did so to make sure that what happened to them would never happen to another student.”

Carter is due to be sentenced Sept. 16.

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