{"id":6529,"date":"2026-01-05T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=6529"},"modified":"2026-01-04T14:00:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T20:00:57","slug":"st-cloud-priest-faces-new-sex-assault-charge-request","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/st-cloud-priest-faces-new-sex-assault-charge-request\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Cloud: Priest Faces New Sex Assault Charge Request"},"content":{"rendered":"

St. Cloud (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) <\/strong>A Catholic priest serving the St. Cloud Diocese is facing more criminal exposure in a sexual assault case.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors have notified the court that they plan to add another charge against 61-year-old Father Joseph Paul Herzing.<\/p>\n

He was already charged with one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.<\/p>\n

He is also charged with stalking and three counts of threats of violence.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors now say they intend to add a second count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.<\/p>\n

Allegations In The Case<\/h2>\n

Authorities allege the victim was a woman he was counseling.<\/p>\n

They allege the assault happened at Herzing\u2019s home in St. Cloud.<\/p>\n

Authorities also allege the woman was choked during the incident.<\/p>\n

They allege threats were made to kill her.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say there were multiple instances of sexual contact.<\/p>\n

They have asked the court to consider aggravating factors at sentencing.<\/p>\n

A judge would decide any sentence if there is a conviction.<\/p>\n

\"Joseph
Joseph Paul Herzing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Church Action After Charges<\/h2>\n

Herzing was ordained in 1999 at St. Mary\u2019s Cathedral, according to the report.<\/p>\n

The St. Cloud Diocese placed him on leave after charges were filed.<\/p>\n

The charges were filed on Nov. 26, according to the information provided.<\/p>\n

What Happens Next<\/h2>\n

The request to add a charge is part of the court process.<\/p>\n

The court will decide if the added count moves forward.<\/p>\n

Case scheduling and hearings are expected to continue in the district court.<\/p>\n

Criminal charges are accusations and are not proof of guilt.<\/p>\n

Herzing is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n

Helpful Links<\/h2>\n

Readers can review Minnesota criminal statutes at the Minnesota Revisor of Statutes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Court process information is available through the Minnesota Judicial Branch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

St. Cloud (trfnews.i234.me) A Catholic priest serving the St. Cloud Diocese is facing more criminal exposure in a sexual assault case. Prosecutors have notified the court that they plan to add another charge against 61-year-old Father Joseph Paul Herzing. He was already charged with one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. He is also charged… Continue reading St. Cloud: Priest Faces New Sex Assault Charge Request<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6548,"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":[1135,848,770,7182,2136,772,1284,960,7179,818,1286,7176,384,6560,7267,794,1068,1452,7177,7178,7181,7180,951],"class_list":["post-6529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-assault","tag-charge","tag-charged","tag-clergy-sex-assault","tag-cloud","tag-crime","tag-criminal-sexual-conduct","tag-faces","tag-father-joseph-paul-herzing","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-court","tag-minnesota-priest-charged-with-sexual-assault","tag-new","tag-priest","tag-request","tag-sex","tag-sexual","tag-st","tag-st-cloud","tag-st-cloud-diocese","tag-stalking-charge","tag-third-degree-csc","tag-threats-of-violence","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6529","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=6529"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6549,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6529\/revisions\/6549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}