Golden Valley Man Charged With Sexually Assaulting Hopkins Girl

Police arrested a Golden Valley man after an underaged Hopkins girl said he sexually assaulted her beginning when she was 4 or 5 years old.

The girl told police April 9 that 50-year-old Paul Frederick Bellefleur, a family friend, forced her to perform oral sex on him, Officer Renee Meuwissen wrote in charging documents filed Friday. The girl, who was born in 2004, told a forensic examiner that Bellefleur also performed oral sex on her.

She said the first sexual assault began when she was still in preschool and about 4 or 5 years old, according to the charging documents. She was last in contact with Bellefleur over the Fourth of July weekend.

Prosecutors allege the sexual assaults took place between 2008 and July 4, 2011. The girl said she kept the abuse secret for a couple of years but later told her sister, who encouraged her to tell her father.

“I’m ashamed of myself,” the charging documents quote her telling an interviewer. “It took a long time to get here, but it was worth it.”

Bellefleur has been charged with two counts first-degree criminal sexual conduct, which carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison and $12,000 to $40,000 fine. He is currently being held in the Hennepin County jail on $150,000 bail.

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