MN man accused of touching 11-year-old girl

In a world where predators often target children online, this could be a textbook case. According to authorities, the crime started several months ago in an Internet chatroom. It was in that forum that an 11-year-old girl struck up a relationship with a person she thought was a teenager. "She believed he was 17. They were conversing for four months until they made arrangements to meet in an Apple Valley Park," said Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom.

On October 11th, the girl and her friend showed up at the park. But rather than meet a teenaged boy, they met instead 39-year-old Dennis White, a Level One Sex Offender who lives in Robbinsdale. According to the criminal complaint, White led the girl into the woods where he kissed and touched her before letting her go. White contends he drove away after realizing the ages of the girls -- a claim that contradicts the testimony of both children.

On November 7th, prosecutors charged White with criminal sexual conduct in the second degree. If convicted, White could face up to four years in prison.

That sentence is stronger, given a previous conviction of criminal sexual conduct in the second degree that also, officials say, involved a child. But on the same day as this case came to light, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension announced Minnesota is one of two states to get a half million dollar grant to combat child sexual predators. The other state is Ohio.

Officials say they plan to use the money to beef up their program in several ways, including: buying more technology to store digital pornographic evidence; paying for local officers to wage their own local investigations; and monitoring offenders already on parole and probation.

Officials believe they received their grant because of their stated goal to find, arrest and prosecute 80 child sexual predators. "This is going to make a huge impact on our investigations and Internet crimes against children here in the state of Minnesota," said Janell Rasmussen with the BCA.

By Karla Hult, KARE 11 News   Read Karla's Blog

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