Charges: Mankato man had sex with teen
(Mankato, MN) – A Mankato man accused of having a sexual relationship with a teen girl faces felony charges in Blue Earth County.
Jalen Amaru Reed, 19, was charged with four counts of felony criminal sexual conduct in the third degree.
According to a criminal complaint, the father of a 14-year-old girl contacted authorities in November and reported he suspected his daughter was having sexual relations with a man. The complainant said he’d observed the girl in conversation with a “Jalen” on Snapchat. The father said he pretended to be his daughter and made contact with Jalen, who referenced having sex with the girl and admitted to being 18-years-old.
The teen girl apparently made no disclosures to police in a forensic interview in December.
In the final days of 2019, the teen girl’s mother told police the girl had admitted to having sex with Reed. A harassment restraining order was issued that prohibited Reed from having contact with the victim, according to the complaint. But on April 9, police received a report that Reed was knocking on the girl’s bedroom window.
The following day, the girl participated in a second interview, according to the complaint. The girl told investigators she began dating Reed in October 2019, and the two of them started having sex shortly after that. She reported skipping school and sneaking out of her house to have sex with Reed in Mankato.
The day after the interview, a police report was filed, classifying the girl as a runaway, according to the complaint.
On April 14, Reed was interviewed by police and initially denied having sex with the girl, according to the complaint. He later admitted he and victim had sex, telling police he believed she was 16. He told police that after the girl’s father confronted him in November and he found out she was 14, they no longer had sex.
The girl was located three days after Reed’s interview at his grandparent’s house in Le Sueur County. Reed was also at the home, according to the complaint.
The victim told police Reed had picked her up after her interview with police and told her “she had nobody.” The girl said she and Reed had sex six times from April 10 – April 17.
Reed is also charged with violating a restraining order, a misdemeanor.
