SILVER BAY, Minn. -- A 50-year-old Duluth man and instructor in the Lake Superior School District faces up to 15 years in prison on multiple charges of criminal sexual contact after an alleged incident during the Bay Days festival last weekend in Silver Bay.
Troy Paulseth was arrested Saturday and charged Tuesday in State District Court in Two Harbors with criminal sexual conduct in the third and fourth degrees, and a third charge of furnishing alcohol to a person under 21 years of age.
Paulseth was released from Lake County Jail in Two Harbors after he posted $5,000 on a $50,000 bail.
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Paulseth is an elementary physical education and adaptive physical education teacher at William Kelley Schools in Silver Bay, as well as a special education instructor. He has been placed on administrative leave, said Superintendent William Crandall.
"We obviously take all issues very seriously," said Crandall, who added the school will cooperate with further investigation as well as conduct its own investigation based on the criminal complaint, court proceedings and Paulseth's personnel file history.
Paulseth's removal from the school's online staff email directory, "is standard practice when people are put on leave," said Crandall.
Paulseth is alleged to have made sexual contact with a "mentally impaired, mentally incapacitated or physically helpless" 19-year-old woman -- the friend of a Paulseth acquaintance.
According to the criminal complaint filed Tuesday with the court, Paulseth and the woman were guests in a home in Silver Bay and had returned from the Bay Days festivities.
The woman woke at approximately 4 a.m. Saturday in a guest room with Paulseth allegedly "kissing her neck and stomach area." She also told police her underwear was pulled down and that Paulseth was touching her, the complaint said.
The woman jumped up and left the home, the complaint said, calling a family friend and waiting outside the home for an hour until the friend's arrival.
The woman told Silver Bay police she was a college student. The friend took her home to the woman's parents, who drove her to Essentia Health-St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth for examination.
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Confronted by police later in the day, the complaint said Paulseth told police, "what has happened has happened, let the chips fall where they may."
The woman admitted to drinking a couple of beers and two shots of vodka before walking into town for the festival at 9:30 p.m. Friday. She and her small group of friends met Paulseth outside the Silver Bay Lounge. The woman told police Paulseth "got them into the lounge and bought them a drink." The woman added she remembers drinking some of a gin and tonic but did not remember finishing the drink. She told police she had no memory after drinking the gin and tonic about 11 p.m. The woman's friend -- and Paulseth's acquaintance -- told police she and another "basically carried" the woman back to the house, where they put her in a small bed in the guest room.
The woman said to police there was "no way" the amount she drank would have made her lose her memory or pass out. She noted she has known Paulseth since she was young.
Paulseth told police "his mistake was that he drank too much and then stupid things happen." The complaint said he asked several questions about what his punishment will be.
The family friend who picked up the woman entered the home, the complaint said, and left a note in the kitchen, telling Paulseth "he is a sick man." The homeowners consented for police to take the bedroom sheets from the home as evidence.
Paulseth faces 15 years in prison and/or $30,000 in fines for the third-degree charge and 10 years and/or $20,000 for the fourth-degree charge. Furnishing alcohol to a person under 21 carries a penalty of one year in jail and/or $3,000 in fines.
Paulseth will appear again in court Tuesday for a Rule 8 hearing, where he may enter a formal plea in response to the charges against him.
