Man sentenced for sexting with 15-year-old

What was supposed to be a pretrial hearing Tuesday turned into a plea hearing immediately followed by a sentencing at the Carlton County Justice Center.

Loren Roy Van Vickle, 37, of Cloquet, pleaded guilty to one charge of using minors “in sexual performance/pornographic work” in court Tuesday. In accordance with the terms of the plea agreement, Sixth District Judge Rebekka Stumme dismissed seven other counts relating to sexual performance work/porn or soliciting a child through electronic communication to engage in sexual conduct. Per the agreement, Van Vickle was sentenced to 7 years, 6 months in a Minnesota prison, with credit for 81 days in jail.

Van Vickle was the latest person convicted of criminal sexual crimes since County Attorney Lauri Ketola took office in 2019. Since then, the Carlton County Attorney’s Office has been prosecuting criminal sexual crimes at a pace as much as nine times more frequently than under the previous county attorney. The Pine Knot News published an investigation into the trend last October.

Van Vickle was arrested in December 2023 for charges stemming from text messages he exchanged with his 15-year-old female neighbor between June 19 and July 15, 2023. In the texts, he told her he loved her and asked her to send him photos of her genitals.

“I want to be your first person to make love to you,” he wrote, while the teenager responded with an emoji.

Over the next two weeks, Van Vickle continued to ask the unidentified girl when they could be together, requesting more explicit photos, and also requesting specific sexual video, requests she mostly complied with. He also sent the girl a photo of his genitals.

Twenty-one years older than his victim, Van Vickle messaged the girl on June 22 to ask if she’d like to get married, later asking when she will turn 18.

The messages continued through July 22, when the girl’s mother called the Cloquet police department to report that her daughter had been sending nude photos to Van Vickle.

“I can’t think of a much more reprehensible situation,” Judge Stumme told Van Vickle before sentencing him. “You were much older than the victim. It’s clear you know better.”

The impact of his actions affects both his victim and the wider community, she said, advising he do some “soul searching” in prison.

Given the opportunity to address the court Tuesday, Van Vickle spoke briefly.

“I’d like to say sorry to the victim’s family,” he said.

There was no victim impact statement.

Van Vickle said he would attend a treatment program in prison.

After he serves his sentence, Van Vickle will be on conditional release for five years, when any violations of his parole terms will mean he could go back to prison. He will have to register as a sex offender. Stumme said his sentence will run concurrently with sentences on any other cases.

Here’s a link to our investigative report on criminal sex prosecutions: https://www.pineknotnews.com/story/2024/10/18/news/transformative-justice/11927.html