BLAINE, Minn. – (Mar. 10, 2016) – An elementary school teacher is facing charges of criminal sexual conduct after allegedly assaulting one of his fourth grade students.
Kenneth Sonnenfeld Jr. is a teacher at Johnsville Elementary School in Blaine and has been employed by the Anoka-Hennepin School District since 1992. He has been put on administrative leave in light of these charges. According to the criminal complaint, he touched a girl in his class on her genitals when she would go to his desk during class to ask for help with a math or science problem. “This happened during class time and there may have been other students in the area” said Commander Paul Sommer of the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office.
The complaint says that he touched her on top of and underneath her clothing, and he did so multiple times. “She disclosed a series of abusive events over a prolonged time last year during the school year” said Sommer
The young girl was 9 years old at the time of the alleged abuse. She said that she stopped asking for help from Sonnenfeld so he wouldn’t touch her anymore. She decided to tell someone about what happened to her last school year so her chest and stomach wouldn’t hurt anymore. “Anytime you have a child that is a victim of sexual abuse it is disturbing…cases like this are extra disturbing” said Sommer.
The legal investigation into Sonnenfeld is ongoing, and the school district is conducting their own investigation as well. North Metro TV has learned that there were previous complaints against Sonnenfeld dating back to the mid-1990s when he was a teacher at Lincoln Elementary in Coon Rapids. The school district has told us that those complaints were investigated, but did not result in disciplinary action. Three separate sources have told us that those complaints were of the same nature as the current charges.
At a court appearance on Thursday morning Sonnenfeld’s bail was set at $100,000 with conditions. Those conditions include no contact with minors.
