MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota
[with video]
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Authorities have issued a nationwide warrant for a 52-year-old man accused of having sex with two underage girls while ministering to a religious group in Northern Pine County.
Victor Arden Barnard, originally of Finlayson, Minn., faces 59 felony counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection to the alleged abuse that occurred from 2000 until 2009.
The Pine County Sheriff’s Office says the charges are a result of a multi-year investigation into Barnard’s behavior while being the leader and minister of the River Road Fellowship, which had a camp in Finlayson.
Along a dead-end road west of Finlayson, Barnard built the religious camp. Neighbor Dale Reed says the group was self-sufficient, butchering their own meat, growing food — and kept largely to themselves.
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