Former Prior Lake Youth Pastor Charged with Having Relationship with Teen

KSTP
September 23, 2016

http://kstp.com/article/stories/s4271856.shtml

Photo: Hennepin County Sheriff's Office

A former Bloomington resident and Prior Lake youth pastor has been charged after he admitted to having a sexual relationship with a girl who was 16 years old at the time.

According to the criminal complaint, the girl told her priest about her relationship with 23-year-old Mitchell Geoffrey Bolkcom, who now lives in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The relationship was reported to police Tuesday, Sept. 13.

In an interview, the girl told police she met Bolkcom at a church retreat in late 2015. The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis said in a statement that Bolkcom was an employee and volunteer at the Church of Saint Michael in Prior Lake at the time.

The girl told police she and Bolkcom started to meet up to talk about her depression. At first, they met at coffee shops, but she said they eventually started going to Bolkcom’s apartment in Bloomington, according to the criminal complaint.

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis said in a statement that Bolkcom was an employee and volunteer at the Church of Saint Michael in Prior Lake at the time.

The girl said she and Bolkcom had a relationship from January to May, which started with cuddling and kissing and continued to oral sex. The girl said she eventually told Bolkcom that she didn’t think “this was a good idea” and didn’t want to go to his apartment, but she said Bolkcom told her he was going to be leaving for Florida for a new job soon and that he only had seven years to live because of a heart condition. They ended up having consensual sex, the girl told police.

Police interviewed Bolkcom, who confessed to the crime and acknowledged that he had counseled and ministered to the girl.

At the time of his arrest, Bolkcom was working for the Fellowship of Catholic University Students at the Saint Thomas Aquinas Newman Center at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, according to the archdiocese.

Bolkcom has been charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison and up to $30,000 in fines.

"The Archdiocese and the Church of Saint Michael are cooperating with law enforcement and we encourage anyone with information to contact police," the archdiocese said in the statement. "Please keep all those who have been abused in your prayers."