Charge: Sartell man abused altar boy

By Sam Louwagie
St. Cloud Times
November 24, 2015

http://www.sctimes.com/story/news/local/2015/11/24/charge-sartell-man-abused-altar-boy/76326084/

Courts

A Sartell man sexually abused a teenager who was an altar boy at a St. Cloud church, according to criminal charges.

Douglas Gerard Kleinsmith, 54, was charged Nov. 16 with two counts of felony criminal sexual conduct by a person in a position of authority.

A criminal complaint against Kleinsmith said he volunteered to train altar boys at a church, and trained the teenage boy he would abuse. The complaint says the boy met Kleinsmith at church when he was 15 years old, and that year also began working for Kleinsmith outside church hours.

Joe Towalski, spokesman for the Diocese of St. Cloud, said Kleinsmith was part of a Latin Mass group that met at St. John Cantius Church. Towalski said the group rented the church facility, and its activities were not affiliated with the St. John Cantius Parish or the Diocese of St. Cloud. He said Kleinsmith was not a parish volunteer or church employee.

The complaint mentions multiple incidents of Kleinsmith sexually abusing the boy, including once while they were alone at church and three other times away from the church.

Kleinsmith was convicted in Idaho in 1991 of sexually abusing a child younger than 16.

According to Towalski, officials at the Diocese of St. Cloud reported the allegations to law enforcement in May. Towalski said pastors at St. John Cantius, Holy Spirit and St. Anthony parishes prohibited Kleinsmith from having any contact with minors at those churches.