Barnum coach faces charged with criminal sexual conduct

The Barnum girls basketball coach was arrested Tuesday, Jan. 19, for allegedly sexually assaulting one of his players.

Andrew John Palmer, 33, of Moose Lake was charged with three counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in Carlton County Sixth District Court Thursday; each count is related to a different alleged sexual encounter.

When the Pine Knot News wrote of Palmer’s arrest in last week’s newspaper, he had yet to be formally charged. There was little information available, other than the fact that he had been arrested with charges likely coming. Once he was charged Thursday, the criminal complaint — with its details of the alleged crime — became publicly available.

According to the complaint, a 17-year-old’s parents contacted local law enforcement on Jan. 17 regarding a possible criminal sexual assault of their daughter by her basketball coach.

The girl was interviewed at First Witness Child Advocacy Center on Jan. 19, the day Palmer was arrested.

Palmer is her coach, the girl confirmed in the interview, stating that he began sending her messages on Snapchat last fall. (Snapchat is a messaging app in which pictures and messages are usually available for only a short time before they become inaccessible to recipients.) He asked her to send photos of herself and talked about his dog. On Jan. 1, the complaint states, he invited her to his home in Moose Lake to see his dog and have a fire, she told the interviewer. Her coach was the only person there when she arrived. The dog was there, but there was no fire. They sat on a couch/bed and started watching a movie when Palmer allegedly put his arm around her. The girl said he had vaginal sex with her, that it felt “not OK” and hurt, but that she felt pressure to have sex with him because he was her coach and she didn’t feel like she could say no.

The charges against Palmer are the same as those faced by Robert Pioro, who coached girls basketball in Carlton some 20 years ago and pleaded guilty to two separate counts of felony third-degree criminal sexual conduct in December for actions taken when he was a coach in Carlton and afterward.

According to Minnesota statute, a person who engages in sexual penetration with another person is guilty of criminal sexual conduct in the third degree in a number of different scenarios, but one of those is “when the complainant is at least 16 but less than 18 years of age and the actor is more than 48 months older and in a current or recent position of authority over the complainant. Neither mistake as to the complainant’s age nor consent to the act by the complainant is a defense.”

According to the criminal complaint, Palmer asked the victim to come to his house again approximately a week later, and then again after a basketball game on Jan. 16, allegedly having sex with the girl two more times. According to the criminal complaint, the girl stated that when she tried to say “no” to things he asked her to do, he would get mad at her.

She described his house and the furnishings inside in detail in the interview. According to the criminal complaint, authorities searched Palmer’s home and the interior matched what the girl said. Police also found two used condoms.

Judge Robert Macauley issued an order for conditional release during Palmer’s first hearing Thursday, Jan. 21. Palmer’s next hearing is set for March 8. The maximum sentence for third-

degree criminal sexual conduct is 15 years imprisonment and/or a $30,000 fine.

A 2005 Barnum grad known as “AJ,” Palmer was in his second season as the head girls basketball coach in Barnum. He is not a teacher there, Barnum superintendent Mike McNulty confirmed. McNulty said Tuesday that Palmer has been terminated as coach and the school district is looking for an interim head coach for girls basketball.