Kenneth Anthony Belcourt, 38, of Cloquet faces six felony charges for allegedly sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl.
According to Cloquet Police Detective Derek Randall, Belcourt was arrested Monday, Aug. 24, and later charged with two felony counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, two counts of use of a minor in a sexual performance and two counts of possession of pictorial representations of minors. The offenses have maximum sentencing guidelines ranging from five to 30 years each and fines ranging from $5,000-$40,000.
According to the criminal complaint, a female who lives in the same household as Belcourt contacted a Carlton County Human Services worker, stating that she had found some "disturbing" images on the card of her digital camera. The human services worker then contacted Cloquet police.
The complaint stated the woman claimed she found a series of photos on the digital camera card depicting pornographic images of a man she believed to be Belcourt, who she stated was her ex-boyfriend, and the minor girl in a setting the woman said she recognized as Belcourt's residence.
Randall then drafted a search warrant and executed a search at the residence, located on Sixth Street in Cloquet. Police seized several items of possible evidence, including a laptop computer, various computer file storage devices and a desktop computer, on which Randall said a forensic analysis will be performed in coming days for possible further evidence.
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Belcourt was at home at the time of the search, and after being read his rights, the complaint stated he agreed to speak with detectives and admitted to having a sexual encounter with the girl on one occasion. At that point, Belcourt requested to speak with an attorney and the questioning ceased.
Belcourt is currently being held in the Carlton County Jail with bail set at $150,000. He made his first appearance in Sixth District Court on Wednesday at 9 a.m.
Randall said though Belcourt does have a criminal history which includes domestic assault, he was not aware of any past criminal sexual conduct charges on Belcourt's record.
