The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

November 6, 2009

Predatory offender accused of stalking

By Dan Nienaber

MANKATO — A man who pleaded guilty in 2008 to threatening his former girlfriend and attempting to injure their unborn child is facing new charges after being arrested outside the woman’s apartment.

Charles Adam Kleinschmidt, 20, appeared in court Thursday for felony charges of harassment, stalking and failing to register as a predatory offender.

He was arrested Wednesday night by Mankato police officers responding to a 911 call from the victim, who said she was afraid Kleinschmidt was coming to her apartment with plans to hurt her.

The woman, identified only by initials in the criminal complaint, called police at 10:30 p.m. saying Kleinschmidt’s sister had called her. The sister said Kleinschmidt had just left her residence with a club and said he knew where the victim was living.

Kleinschmidt’s sentence was stayed in March 2008 after he pleaded guilty to a previous assault against the same woman. That incident, which happened in Mapleton, was reported on Dec. 29, 2007.

The victim told investigators Kleinschmidt had choked her, threatened to rape her and attempted to kick her in the stomach while refusing to allow her to leave her house. She was three months pregnant at the time, that criminal complaint said. Other felony charges, including kidnapping and second-degree assault, were dismissed in the 2008 plea agreement.

While police were responding to the incident in Mankato on Wednesday, the victim told a dispatcher she had heard noises at her front door and a side window.

A BMX bike was found in bushes outside the victim’s apartment building. They suspected it hadn’t been there long because it wasn’t covered in frost like the cars near it were.

When Kleinschmidt was found walking nearby, he told the officers he had been at a friend’s house and was heading home. He said he didn’t know anyone living in the apartment building the officers were checking.

Kleinschmidt was arrested because he told the officers he was living with his sister near Central High School. According to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension predatory offender registry, Kleinschmidt had told authorities he was living at a residence outside of Mankato off Highway 83.

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