Brevator Township man sentenced to 31 years in child abuse case

Roger Eugene Collins Jr. was sentenced to more than 31 years in prison in St. Louis County court after pleading guilty in April to three counts of criminal sexual conduct in a case involving a child under 14. The sentence closes a prosecution that began when the victim disclosed the abuse to another adult, prompting a 911 call on April 14, 2025.

Collins, who was 34 when charges were filed, was accused with his girlfriend, Laura Anne Leimer, who was 37, of facilitating and participating in abuse that prosecutors said stretched across multiple years. A prosecutor described the matter as an “absolutely horrific” case of child sexual abuse, underscoring the seriousness of the allegations that brought the Brevator Township couple into the criminal courts.

The guilty plea moved the case from accusation to conviction without a trial, and the prison term now keeps Collins away from the community for decades. For Brevator Township and the wider Duluth area, the sentence marks a firm resolution in a case that had drawn attention because of the victim’s age, the length of the alleged abuse and the role of adults who were supposed to provide protection.

Minnesota’s sentencing guidelines, established in 1978 and the first in the nation when they took effect in 1980, set presumptive felony terms based on offense severity and criminal history. State law also treats sexual contact with a person under 18 as second-degree criminal sexual conduct when aggravating circumstances are present, the legal framework that helped shape how the case advanced through St. Louis County court.