DULUTH (MN)
Duluth News Tribune [Duluth MN]
November 26, 2025
By Tom Olsen
The prosecutor called it “truly heartbreaking” that justice was delayed for several years and explained why charges were not brought against preachers for failing to report a member’s crimes.
DULUTH — Leaders of a local church were warned about their obligation to report allegations of child sexual abuse to authorities several years before investigators learned of the full scope of a member’s crimes, according to a new report.
But even with the benefit of hindsight, Deputy St. Louis County Attorney Jon Holets said he doesn’t believe police and prosecutors could have handled the case against Clint Franklin Massie any differently.
“Child sexual abuse cases are always challenging,” Holets told the News Tribune this week. “This case presented even greater challenges and pressures on victims.”
An investigation into Massie and the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church was published last week by ProPublica, a national, nonprofit investigative journalism outlet, in conjunction with the Minnesota Star Tribune.
The report, which has garnered significant local attention and outcry on social media, detailed how leaders of the secretive congregation failed to notify police when informed of abuse allegations against Massie — instead pushing victims to remain silent and take part in forgiveness sessions.
The News Tribune has previously reported on the numerous allegations against Massie, his guilty plea and sentence to 7 ½ years in prison, as well as the “forgive and forget” attitude of the tight-knit church.
But last week’s story revealed additional information about the actions of church leaders, including their interactions with law enforcement in the years leading up to the charges against Massie, based on an extensive review of police records and interviews with victims.
Preachers did not report
Massie first came to the attention of law enforcement in 2017, when a victim reported to a therapist that she had been sexually abused by Massie. But Holets said he was unable to file charges at that point, citing the wishes of the girl and her family and a lack of other admissible evidence — an outcome he called “truly heartbreaking.”
“This is unfortunately common in cases of child sexual abuse, particularly when family members or friends are perpetrators,” said the longtime prosecutor, who now serves in a top leadership role for the county attorney’s office.
The ProPublica and Star Tribune story indicates Massie again landed on the radar of the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office three years later, when anonymous tips were submitted claiming he had been sexually abusing young girls for decades.
An investigator at that point spoke with Massie’s preacher, Daryl Bruckelmyer, who said the church encourages abuse victims to go to the police but said he believed it was “on them to do that.”
Under Minnesota law, certain professionals, including doctors, teachers and clergy, are mandated reporters; they have an obligation to inform authorities when they have reason to believe a child is being maltreated.
However, the story cites evidence that Bruckelmyer and other leaders failed to do so — instead choosing to handle abuse allegations within the church and exposing other children to potential harm.
The Old Apostolic Lutheran Church is a conservative Christian revival movement that is not connected to mainstream Lutheran churches. Preachers are lay members of the congregation, lacking formal training or ordination.
Bruckelmyer has served as a preacher at the church’s Woodland Park location, 3730 Martin Road, in Duluth. Another church is located on Ryan Road in Duluth Township. A website lists 33 active congregations across the U.S. and Canada, many in Minnesota and Washington state.
It wasn’t until 2023 that authorities learned of the extent of Massie’s predatory actions, which eventually grew to include nine identified victims in Minnesota and South Dakota.
“The landscape had changed because all victims were now adults with greater agency and we had cooperation from multiple victims,” Holets told the News Tribune.
Prosecutors successfully moved to admit evidence of all nine victims at his trial, and Massie ultimately pleaded guilty last December to four charges involving two girls around 2008-2009. A jury had already been selected to hear his case, and multiple victims were lined up to testify at the Duluth courthouse.
Authorities sought to educate
The ProPublica and Star Tribune story suggests preachers could have been prosecuted at an earlier point for failing to report their knowledge of allegations against Massie. By the time Massie was actually arrested, the three-year statute of limitations had run out.
Holets said the matter was never referred to the county attorney’s office for charges, and he’s not aware of any prosecutions ever being initiated in St. Louis County under the mandated reporter statute.
He noted the failure to report an offense is only a misdemeanor, carrying 90 days in jail and/or a $1,000 fine. In practice, a conviction at that level typically results in no jail time, one year of probation and a $50 fine.
For that reason — as well as potential challenges in even obtaining a conviction when the victim was not cooperating — Holets said he and law enforcement sought to educate church leaders about their duty to report.
“We believed it would be more effective to work with existing leadership to influence practices and attitudes related to child-abuse reporting, rather than to pursue criminal enforcement,” he explained to the News Tribune.
“This decision was based, in part, on the belief that a misdemeanor charge would be unlikely to meaningfully improve compliance or produce lasting change. There was also a legitimate concern that charging a clergy member and community leader with a minor offense could discourage future reporting or cooperation by victims with law enforcement and prosecution.”
Church spokesman John Hiivala said in a statement to the News Tribune this week that the congregations “try to prevent violence, harassment and sexual abuse from occurring” and take any allegations “very seriously.”
“Our preachers are spiritual counselors under Christ’s law of love,” he said, “taking care of the soul, heart and conscience, but we have confidence in our social and judicial authorities and if necessary look for help from our public healthcare and justice system.
“Caution is always necessary in these sensitive matters, so all parties involved get the right spiritual and professional help, and if needed, the matter goes to the natural law. All our congregations have the same preventive abuse guidelines read and discussed in a congregational setting, bringing awareness of how the church and the law view abuse and how such situations will be handled.”
Hiivala earlier told ProPublica and the Star Tribune that the church “fully complied with the law in the referenced case,” and the report cited an attorney/crisis manager questioning whether the preachers would even be considered mandated reporters because they are unpaid.
“We make every effort to follow the law of Christ and the laws of the land,” Hiivala told the News Tribune.
Despite the long road and many obstacles to get Massie into a courtroom, Holets said he was proud of the work of the sheriff’s office and the county attorney’s office.
Holets called the case “unique” and said he felt a “measure of vindication in ultimately charging him for many of his offenses.”
“Prosecutors are entrusted with substantial discretion and authority to seek justice,” Holets said this week. “Justice does not always mean obtaining convictions or imposing incarceration.
“In Mr. Massie’s case, convictions and incarceration were entirely necessary and appropriate. In the case of the clergy members referenced above, I sincerely doubt that a misdemeanor charge would have made any meaningful impact on community safety or reporting.”
Victims file lawsuits
When Massie was sentenced in March, he still enjoyed significant support from fellow members of the congregation. As the News Tribune reported at the time, some 17 letters were submitted to the court on his behalf, describing him as a faithful family man, downplaying his sexual assault admissions and questioning why authorities were even pursuing the case.
An aerial view of Old Apostolic Lutheran Church of Woodland Park located at 3730 Martin Road, as seen Monday.
Wyatt Buckner / Duluth Media Group
Prosecutor Mike Ryan called it an “alarming body of information” and the “most unusual collection of letters of support that I’ve ever seen at a sentencing.” Judge Eric Hylden stated: “There’s a gap here a mile wide where people just don’t believe that (you are) a pedophile.”
Massie, 50, is currently serving his sentence at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Faribault. He’s scheduled for release in February 2030, but will be subject to conditional release and predatory offender registration for life.
Since the sentencing, he has been sued twice in South Dakota by two sisters who say they were abused by Massie in that state; the statute of limitations has expired for criminal charges. The still-pending complaints also name the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church of America and its Spearfish location as defendants.
The women have retained prominent Florida attorney Spencer Kuvin, who represented several victims of billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in the late 2000s and also brought a case against comedian Bill Cosby.
Kuvin is also currently litigating 10 cases against Duluth’s Vineyard Church and its former leaders for widespread sexual abuse committed by now-imprisoned youth pastor Jackson Gatlin.
Meanwhile, Massie’s brother, Charles “Chuck” Dean Massie, is facing several child sexual assault charges charges in Wyoming and Nebraska. Cowboy State Daily reported that many of the allegations involve girls known to him through the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church of Moorcroft, Wyoming.
| To get help If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call 911. First Witness Child Advocacy Center: 218-727-8353, firstwitness.org/contact-us National Sexual Assault Hotline:24/7 hotline: 800-656-4673 Center Against Sexual and Domestic Abuse (CASDA):serves Duluth, Superior and Ashland, Bayfield and Douglas counties; 24/7 hotline 800-649-2921; submit a help request at casda.org/get-help Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault (PAVSA):serves southern St. Louis County; 24/7 hotline 218-726-1931 Sexual Assault Program of Northern St. Louis County:serves northern St. Louis County; 218-749-4725; leave a message and an advocate will be contacted 24/7 Family Pathways:serves Carlton and Pine counties; 24/7 hotline 800-338-7233 Support Within Reach:serves Aitkin and Itasca counties; hotline 866-747-5008 North Shore Horizons:serves Lake County; 24/7 hotline 218-834-5924 Violence Prevention Center:serves Cook County; 24/7 hotline 218-387-1237 Friends Against Abuse:serves Koochiching County; 24/7 hotline 888-344-3264 Fond du Lac Reservation:24/7 hotline 218-348-1817 Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa:Grand Portage Human Services 218-475-2453 Bois Forte Tribal Government–Victim Services Program:emergency cell 218-248-0067 |
By Tom Olsen
Tom Olsen covers crime and courts and the 8th Congressional District for the Duluth News Tribune since 2013. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Duluth and a lifelong resident of the city. Readers can contact Olsen at 218-723-5333 or tolsen@duluthnews.com.