Sexual offender sentenced for assault at local motel

Talk about it

A convicted sex offender was sentenced to one year in jail for fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct related to an incident at a Scanlon motel last August where he allegedly grabbed a woman’s breast so hard that she bruised.

Darold John Poehls, 38, pleaded guilty to the charge, a gross misdemeanor, in Carlton County Court last Wednesday, and Judge Dale Wolf sentenced him to the year’s jail time (with credit for time already served) as well as two years of supervised probation, a no-contact order with the victim and maintaining his predatory offender registration. Poehls was also fined $3,000, with $2,700 of that amount stayed, as well as $85 in court fees.

According to the criminal complaint filed in Poehls’ case, an employee of the motel where Poehls resided and performed maintenance work walked up the stairs of the hotel to get a water bottle. When she reached the top of the stairs, she told police that Poehls, who had been doing some work on the roof, approached her and deliberately reached over and grabbed her breast over her clothing.

Poehls was convicted of third-degree sexual assault in 1993 and had at least one conviction for failing to register as a sex offender plus 12 bench warrants for failure to appear in court prior to this most recent incident.

Poehls had originally been set for a jury trial on Feb. 27 prior to accepting last week’s plea agreement. At that time, he entered an Alford Plea, which means that while he maintains his innocence, he concurred that there was sufficient evidence for a prosecutor to convince a judge or jury to convict him of the crime.

Tags: carlton county, crime, cloquet