Man pleads guilty to sex with minor

A former fast food restaurant manager pleaded guilty to felony third-degree sexual assault of a girl who was 15 years old at the time.

Garrett Carlson, 24, was sentenced to three years of supervised probation Aug. 23 in Sixth District Carlton County Court by Judge Rebekka Stumme.

According to the criminal complaint, Carlson was 22 at the time of the assault, in the summer of 2018. He was a manager at the Cloquet McDonald’s and the 15-year-old was an employee. That summer Carlson and the girl began communication on SnapChat and he asked her for photographs and videos of herself naked and performing sexual acts.

In September 2018, he asked her to be his girlfriend and she responded that she was only 15. Although her parents didn’t approve, they began dating.

According to the criminal complant, the two agreed they would wait until the girl was of legal age, 16, to have sex. In October 2018, they went to his father’s house and had oral sex.

Carlson was charged in December 2020 based on reports from the girl and pleaded guilty June 28.

Carlson must follow all recommendations of the psychosexual evalution, attend a sex offender program, have no contact with the victim, and no alcohol or drug use. He should have no unsupervised contact with minors under the age of 18 unless approved by probation. His sentence included a $5,000 fine, with $3,000 stayed.