Albert Lea man to serve jail time for criminal sexual conduct of teen

Published 3:11 pm Thursday, June 30, 2022

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An Albert Lea man who pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct of a teenage girl over a two-year span was sentenced on Thursday to 365 days in the Freeborn County jail and supervised probation for up to 15 years.

Matthew Estes

Matthew Ryan Estes, 35, was sentenced to 48 months in prison on one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a victim between 13 and 15 and 36 months on a second count, both of which will run concurrent and will be stayed for 15 years — meaning if he complies with the terms of his sentence, he will not have to serve the prison time.

Court documents allege Estes met the girl at a church where he worked as a janitor, and the girl volunteered to babysit for his family.

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According to the court complaint, the victim told police their relationship started as a father-figure type relationship, but after a while things became sexual. The victim said Estes would not pay for her babysitting other than with nicotine or sex and that he would tell her that when she was 18, he would leave his wife and they would get married. 

As part of the sentence, Judge Ross Leuning ordered Estes to register as a predatory offender and that he have no unsupervised contact with minor or vulnerable adults, among other conditions.