A St. Louis County jury deliberated about 6½ hours before finding a Floodwood man guilty Monday night of 11 of 12 criminal counts in a case involving the sexual assault of a girl younger than 16 and possession of pornography involving minors.
Randy Allen Boettcher, 48, was convicted of four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and seven counts of possessing pornographic work involving minors.
All the pornographic images except the count he was acquitted of were found on his laptop computer; the image in the acquitted count was found on a bedroom-study computer.
The guideline prison sentence for first-degree criminal sexual conduct is 12 years. With the pornographic work involving minors convictions, Boettcher is facing a potential prison sentence of between 14 and 21 years.
Judge John DeSanto directed an Arrowhead Regional Corrections probation officer to investigate Boettcher's background before sentencing on a date yet to be scheduled.
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St. Louis County prosecutor Leslie Beiers filed a motion seeking a mandatory sentence based on the danger Boettcher poses to public safety. She said she would wait for the results of the defendant's court-ordered psychosexual evaluation before deciding her office's next step.
"Last night, justice was served," Beiers said. "These are difficult cases. I appreciate the hard work and careful deliberation of the jury. I'm grateful for the coordinated response involving law enforcement, social services, the medical consultant, and the First Witness Child Abuse Resource Center. I am humbled by the courage of all three of the victims who testified."
In addition to the victim in this case, two other women who were sexually abused by Boettcher when they were girls testified against the defendant, Beiers said.
According to the criminal complaint, the alleged victim reported the abuse to a Floodwood school principal. The girl was then referred to the First Witness Child Abuse Resource Center in Duluth.
During a conversation with a St. Louis County social worker, the girl said that Boettcher had shown her things on computers that made her feel uncomfortable.
A St. Louis County Sheriff's investigator executed a search warrant at Boettcher's home and seized multiple laptops, computer towers and memory cards that were analyzed by the Lake Superior Forensic Technology and Internet Crimes Against Children's Task Force.
During a several-month investigation, the sheriff's investigator located 72 images of possible child pornography, 12 images of child erotica and 20 images of possible pornographic sites with images of children younger than 18.
The victim told an investigator that Boettcher "kind of like raped me" on at least three occasions. She said she was frightened of the defendant and felt horrible about what happened. She said he forced her to watch child pornography.
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She said Boettcher threatened her if she did not cooperate with him and if she told anyone of the abuse.
