St. Cloud Man Convicted of Sexually Assaulting Girl

FOLEY -- A Benton County jury has found a St. Cloud man guilty of sexually assaulting a young girl in the summer of 2016.

Jurors deliberated for less than 30 minutes Tuesday before convicting 44-year-old Christian Flah on one count of 1st-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of 2nd-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Court records show the girl was 12-years-old when the assault happened. She was staying at Flah's southeast St. Cloud apartment at the time. The girl said she was in bed on July 10th or 11th when Flah came into her room, pulled down her shorts and underwear, climbed on top of her, and began sexually assaulting her despite her pleas for him to stop.

The girl didn't report the incident until December when she said Flah held her down and tried to force sex on her.

According to the criminal complaint, Flah told investigators he had four or five beers that day and did not remember what happened. He denied having intercourse with the girl, but ultimately admitted to touching her inappropriately.

Flah failed to appear in court on day two of his trial and a warrant was issued for his arrest. The trial continued in his absence and a jury convicted him on the two counts of criminal sexual conduct and found Flah not guilty on the remaining count of 1st-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Police later located Flah in bed at his home. He was taken into custody and brought to the hospital to get sober before he could be booked into the Benton County Jail.

No sentencing date has been set yet.