{"id":21085,"date":"2026-03-04T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=21085"},"modified":"2026-03-01T16:45:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T22:45:57","slug":"bemidji-cass-lake-man-charged-in-sex-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/bemidji-cass-lake-man-charged-in-sex-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Bemidji: Cass Lake Man Charged in Sex Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bemidji, Beltrami County<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A Cass Lake man faces a felony sex charge. The report came from a Bemidji residential facility.<\/p>\n

Ronald Joseph Staples Jr.<\/strong>, 40, of Cass Lake, is charged with felony fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct. The case stems from an incident reported on Oct. 1, 2024.<\/p>\n

According to the criminal complaint, an adult woman reported unwanted sexual contact. The complaint says it happened inside a residential care setting in Bemidji.<\/p>\n

The report says staff learned of the allegation and contacted law enforcement. The Bemidji Police Department investigated, according to court records.<\/p>\n

Investigators collected statements and reviewed building video, the complaint states. Court papers say surveillance footage captured the interaction tied to the charge.<\/p>\n

What the complaint alleges<\/h2>\n

The complaint says the video shows Staples near the woman in a shared area. The report says the contact was not consented to.<\/p>\n

The woman later spoke with investigators, the complaint says. Court papers state she described what happened and when it occurred.<\/p>\n

The complaint says the video supported parts of her account. Investigators also documented the woman\u2019s statement, according to the filing.<\/p>\n

\"Ronald
Ronald Joseph Staples Jr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Charge details<\/h2>\n

Staples is charged under Minnesota\u2019s fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct statute. The law generally covers nonconsensual sexual contact.<\/p>\n

The statute cited in the case is Minnesota Statutes 609.3451<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What happens next<\/h2>\n

A charging document is not a conviction. Staples is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n

Future hearings and filings may appear through Minnesota Court Records Online<\/a>. Some case details may be sealed or redacted.<\/p>\n

Where to learn more or get help<\/h2>\n

Public case searches are offered by the Minnesota Judicial Branch. The City of Bemidji also posts contact details for police at its official police page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you or someone you know needs help, support is available. You can contact RAINN\u2019s National Sexual Assault Hotline<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Minnesota support is also available through Minnesota Day One Services<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bemidji, Beltrami County (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 A Cass Lake man faces a felony sex charge. The report came from a Bemidji residential facility. Ronald Joseph Staples Jr., 40, of Cass Lake, is charged with felony fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct. The case stems from an incident reported on Oct. 1, 2024. According to the criminal complaint, an… Continue reading Bemidji: Cass Lake Man Charged in Sex Case<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21087,"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":[1212,1224,12628,871,767,4449,770,772,1194,13081,1455,151,4328,14438,14437,14436,794,867,786],"class_list":["post-21085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-beltrami-county","tag-bemidji","tag-bemidji-police-department","tag-case","tag-cass","tag-cass-lake","tag-charged","tag-crime","tag-felony-charge","tag-fifth-degree-criminal-sexual-conduct","tag-lake","tag-man","tag-minnesota-court-records-online","tag-minnesota-statutes-609-3451","tag-residential-facility","tag-ronald-joseph-staples-jr","tag-sex","tag-surveillance-video","tag-trf-news","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21085","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=21085"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21091,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21085\/revisions\/21091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}