Cass Lake-Bena superintendent accused of fondling teen
Cass Lake-Bena School District Superintendent Carl Remmers, 65, of Cass Lake, was charged Tuesday Friday in Beltrami County District Court with a felony count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Remmers is accused of inappropriately touching a 17-year-old boy.
Beltrami County Judge Paul T. Benshoof set bail for Remmers at $5,000 conditional bail with a 20 percent cash alternative.
According to the criminal complaint, the 17-year-old boy spoke with a Bemidji Police Officer at 6:45 p.m. July 18 and said he had been inappropriately touched by Remmers. The teen said Remmers touched him while he was in Remmers' office at the Alternative Learning Center in Cass Lake.
The teen said that Remmers drove him to Bemidji July 18 to buy clothes for him. He said that after the clothes were purchased that Remmers took him to the AmericInn in Bemidji and reserved a room. The boy stated that after they went to the room he tried to get reception for his iPod when Remmers approached him from the side and grabbed his genitals and buttock.
Carl Remmers
The teen told police that Remmers told him that he wanted to see him naked. The boy stated that he moved away from Remmers and sat on the couch to watch a baseball game. The boy asked Remmers if they could go to Pizza Hut, thinking that he could then escape from Remmers.
The teen said they went to Pizza Hut and that while there, Remmers gave him $100 and that the teen then excused himself to go to the bathroom and then left the building. He said he grabbed his clothes out of Remmers' car and then jumped over the fence behind Pizza Hut. He said that he then ran behind some businesses, through the cemetery and to a friend's house in Nymore.
A Bemidji Police investigator checked at the AmericInn and confirmed that Remmers had rented a room on July 18. He also confirmed the purchase of clothing at the Bemidji mall described by the teen and that they were purchased by Remmers.
The investigator then arranged for the teen to make a phone call to Remmers. During the course of this conversation, Remmers said he did not know why he had touched the boy inappropriately and asked him to forgive him. When the teen told Remmers that he was going to report this, Remmers hung up on him.
Remmers has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation at Cass Lake-Bena Schools, where he has worked since 2005.
In a news release issued by the Cass Lake-Bena School District, the district stated that it is taking this complaint seriously and is fully cooperating with law enforcement in its investigation. The district also is conducting its own investigation into the matter. This is the first and only complaint the district has received about Remmers since he started with the district.
The district stated that anyone with further information on the matter may contact school board chair Holly Evans at the district at (218) 335-2203.
Remmers published a fictional novel, "Mass Assassination," through AuthorHouse last year. According to the AuthorHouse, Remmers was born in South Dakota. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1966 and served in the infantry in Vietnam. While in Vietnam he was stationed at Khe Sanh during the siege of Khe Sanh during the TET offensive in 1968. After leaving the Marines, he graduated from the University of Sioux Falls with a bachelor's degree in history. He earned his master's degree in educational administration from Northern State University in Aberdeen, S.D., and earned an EDS degree from the University of South Dakota in Vermilion.
Remmers taught social studies and coached football, basketball and track at Polo High School in South Dakota. He served as a superintendent in South Dakota for 25 years before he accepted a superintendent position in Benson, Minn. He then was hired as superintendent for the Cass Lake-Bena School District.
Benson Superintendent Lee Westrum told the Swift County Monitor Tuesday that there had never been a complaint about Remmers' behavior before, during or after his employment in the district, which began in 2000.