MINNESOTA
New York Daily News

Minnesota man charged with luring boy for sex through Craigslist, wanted to be his ‘mentor’: defense attorney

BY RACHELLE BLIDNER

A Minnesota man who is accused of trying to lure a minor for sex through Craigslist was trying to protect the boy from the same kind of abuse he suffered as a child, his attorney said Monday.

Stephen Joseph Schulz, 56, is on trial in Ramsey County District Court after allegedly arranging to meet up with someone he thought was a 15-year-old boy, but who was really an undercover St. Paul police officer.

Schulz was charged with sexual soliciting a child via the Internet in April 2013.

Defense attorney Paul Engh said Schulz “wanted to meet the child, mentor him and prevent another tragedy” after being molested by a priest as a child, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Engh said Schulz…