{"id":12306,"date":"2026-01-22T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=12306"},"modified":"2026-02-22T18:55:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T00:55:37","slug":"moorhead-fargo-man-faces-sex-abuse-felonies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/moorhead-fargo-man-faces-sex-abuse-felonies\/","title":{"rendered":"Moorhead: Fargo Man Faces Sex Abuse Felonies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Moorhead, Minnesota<\/strong> (<a href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 Ronald Matthew Balzer, 40, of Fargo, North Dakota, is facing four felony charges in Clay County District Court.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors allege a pattern of abuse over several years.<\/p>\n<p>The alleged time span runs from June 27, 2008, to February 18, 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Court records list Moorhead as the community of offense.<\/p>\n<p>The case was filed on December 26, 2025.<\/p>\n<h2>Charges filed<\/h2>\n<p>Balzer is charged with First-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct.<\/p>\n<p>That count involves an alleged victim under age 13.<\/p>\n<p>He is also charged with Second-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct.<\/p>\n<p>That count also involves an alleged victim under age 13.<\/p>\n<p>Two other counts involve alleged victims ages 13 to 15.<\/p>\n<p>Those are Third-Degree and Fourth-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct charges.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities did not name the alleged victims.<\/p>\n<p>TRF News does not identify minors in criminal cases.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12758\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12758\" style=\"width: 177px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12758\" src=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Ronald-Matthew-Balzer.png\" alt=\"Ronald Matthew Balzer\" width=\"177\" height=\"218\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12758\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ronald Matthew Balzer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Arrest and court dates<\/h2>\n<p>A warrant was issued on December 26, 2025, according to court entries.<\/p>\n<p>Balzer was arrested on the warrant on January 9, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>He appeared in court the same day.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Leah J. duCharme set bail during that hearing.<\/p>\n<h2>Bail and release rules<\/h2>\n<p>Bail was set at $150,000 with no conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Bail was set at $75,000 with conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Release rules include no contact with the alleged victim or victims.<\/p>\n<p>They also include no contact with anyone under age 18.<\/p>\n<p>He must return for all court dates.<\/p>\n<p>He must remain law-abiding while the case is pending.<\/p>\n<p>He must get court approval before leaving Minnesota.<\/p>\n<h2>Where to follow the case<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/publicaccess.courts.state.mn.us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Minnesota Court Records Online (MCRO)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.revisor.mn.gov\/statutes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Minnesota Revisor of Statutes<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Moorhead Police Department<\/li>\n<li>Clay County, Minnesota<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Balzer has not been convicted in this case.<\/p>\n<p>Charges are allegations filed in court.<\/p>\n<p>He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m Chris Harper reporting for <a href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Moorhead, Minnesota (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 Ronald Matthew Balzer, 40, of Fargo, North Dakota, is facing four felony charges in Clay County District Court. Prosecutors allege a pattern of abuse over several years. The alleged time span runs from June 27, 2008, to February 18, 2016. Court records list Moorhead as the community of offense. The case&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/moorhead-fargo-man-faces-sex-abuse-felonies\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Moorhead: Fargo Man Faces Sex Abuse Felonies<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[2028,10061,10519,772,1284,960,769,2932,1546,957,151,1025,1346,1835,2863,10520,794,9268],"class_list":["post-12306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-abuse","tag-bail","tag-clay-county-mn","tag-crime","tag-criminal-sexual-conduct","tag-faces","tag-fargo","tag-fargo-nd","tag-felonies","tag-felony-charges","tag-man","tag-minnesota-court-records","tag-moorhead","tag-moorhead-mn","tag-moorhead-police-department","tag-ronald-matthew-balzer","tag-sex","tag-warrant-arrest","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12306"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20352,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12306\/revisions\/20352"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}