25-year-old man harbored 13-year-old runaway, say charges

A 25-year-old man is accused of harboring a 13-year-old runaway girl.

Anthony Paris Wilson, of Mankato, was charged Tuesday with contributing to the need for child protection or service, a gross misdemeanor, in Blue Earth County Court.

A criminal complaint says the teen’s mother reported her as a runaway in early June, and told police she believed the girl was with Wilson.

Another girl showed police to a Mapleton apartment where she had been hanging out with Wilson and the runaway.  No one was home, but police returned around 10 p.m., according to the complaint.  During that visit, Wilson allegedly told officers he hadn’t seen or talked to the girl in a month.

Police confronted Wilson about a Snapchat video from the previous evening, where he and the teen were allegedly seen together.  The complaint says Wilson then asked if the girl was dead.

Wilson finally agreed to get the teen, but would not allow police in the apartment, according to court documents.  He returned several minutes later to say she wasn’t there, says the complaint.

Police knocked on the door a short time later and Wilson again denied the girl was at his apartment, according to the complaint.  He eventually let an officer inside, where they found the girl, charges say.

Wilson has been summoned to appear in Blue Earth County Court.