Woodbury charter school coach arrested for child solicitation
The Woodbury Math and Science Academy badminton coach has been arrested and charged with seeking to pay for sex from someone he held was a minor Jamey Scott Ralph Strand of River Falls Wis was taken into custody Sunday after allegedly trying to meet with a -year-old girl who turned out to be a detective with the Mankato Police Department He was charged Tuesday in Blue Earth County District Court with soliciting a child through electronic communication to engage in sexual conduct He s scheduled to make an initial appearance on the charge on Thursday An attorney is not listed in his court file to address the accusations According to the criminal complaint the undercover detective on Aug logged into an online chat room and listed his gender as an -year-old woman The minimum age the chat room allows a user to select is Strand who went by the username OkobojiM F reached out first The detective reported Strand that he was a -year-old girl and in the ninth grade Strand responded with Cool Im sic ok with that if you are the complaint alleges The undercover detective inquired Strand if they could change to the social networking app Kik and he agreed Strand then sent a photo of himself and demanded for photos of her Strand on several occasions then mentioned wanting to perform sex acts on her while also asking for a bra size and if she wore thong underwear Strand urged ever taken naughty pics and wrote that he could teach you sexual stuff the complaint continues Strand then requested the purported girl if she desired to go to his cabin in Iowa and stay the night with him He offered to pick her up in Mankato A meeting was scheduled for Aug but Strand did not show up he stated he panicked and that maybe they could try again when he drove through Mankato On Sunday Strand reached out again and required to meet up He was arrested after a traffic stop in St Peter In an interview at the county jail Strand admitted that his messages with who he thought was a -year-old girl were sexual in nature and that the purpose of meeting up would be to have sex the complaint says Strand explained his plan was to take the girl back to his camper in Iowa as his wife was going to be gone for a scarce days Related Articles Killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO has inspired followers prosecutors say The other casualties in school shootings The children who survive Police say Minneapolis church shooter was filled with hatred and admired mass killers Minneapolis Catholic schoolchildren listened to a prayer then ducked for cover from gunfire What we know about Minneapolis school shooter Robin Westman Strand also admitted to communicating with who he thought were two other girls under the age of the complaint says According to Math and Science Academy executive director Kate Hinton Strand was the charter school s badminton coach last season Math and Science Academy was just now made aware of the arrest of a staff member for alleged criminal conduct unrelated to school engagements Hinton declared This individual has been terminated promptly and will have no further affiliation with the school Our top priority is the safety and well-being of our students We are cooperating fully with law enforcement and have made counseling staff available to help any students who may need it Nick Ferraro contributed to this overview
