Duluth Man Sentenced for Sexually Assaulting Woman He Met Online

A Duluth man was sentenced in St. Louis County District Court after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a woman he met online, with investigators alleging he tracked down her home address using a Snapchat location feature to carry out the attack.

The case drew attention not only for the nature of the assault but for how the defendant allegedly exploited a social media tool to locate his victim. Police have indicated the man used a Snapchat location feature to identify where the woman lived after meeting her through an online platform. The specific Snapchat function involved and the technical details of how investigators established its use have not been publicly confirmed, and the defendant's name, sentence length, and precise charges were not available at the time of reporting.

The sentencing adds to a pattern of serious sex crimes that have put St. Louis County courts and investigators at the center of multiple high-profile cases in recent months. A separate, unrelated investigation by ProPublica and the Minnesota Star Tribune examined child sexual abuse within the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church community in Duluth, finding that some members enabled Clint Massie, who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing young girls and is currently imprisoned in Faribault, Minnesota.

That investigation surfaced a 2023 interview between a St. Louis County detective and Daryl Bruckelmyer, an OALC preacher who acknowledged knowing about Massie's sexual abuse. Bruckelmyer told the detective it was up to victims to report the crimes to police, a position ProPublica characterized as a clear misreading of Minnesota's mandated reporter law, which requires doctors, teachers, and others in designated roles to report crimes against children. Bruckelmyer declined to comment or answer a detailed list of questions for the ProPublica and Star Tribune investigation. "We don't protect either one," he said, referring to sexual abusers and their victims.

The two cases are distinct and no documentary evidence in available reporting links the man sentenced this week to Massie or to the OALC community. What connects them is jurisdiction: both involved St. Louis County investigators and a court system that has handled a significant volume of sexual abuse prosecution tied to Duluth in recent years.