St. Cloud Man Sentenced for Sexually Assaulting Girl

ST. CLOUD -- A Stearns County judge has sentenced a St. Cloud man to five years in prison for sexually molesting a 15-year-old girl multiple times in 2017.

Fifty-six-year-old David Lenarz Jr. previously pleaded guilty to two counts of 2nd-degree criminal sexual conduct with a victim between 13-15-years-old while in a position of authority and soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct.

According to the criminal complaint, Lenarz was a friend of the girl's family and was allowed to have a parental role over the girl. She would spend time at Lenarz's home and help with maintaining his land.

The girl told investigators that Lenarz was driving the girl to her youth group when he sexually touched her groin area over her yoga pants. In another instance, Lenarz touched the girl underneath her bra.

Court records show Lenarz told the girl she should try modeling and gave her a name and number of a woman who would help her. The girl was asked and provided nude photos of herself to the phone number provided which investigators later learned was his cell phone and contained nude photos of her.

The girl's mother confronted Lenarz when she noticed inappropriate text messages between him and her daughter.  He told the mother the girl's phone was hacked.