Convicted Child Predator and Stillwater Mortgage Broker Charged With Two Counts of Child Rape

editor's note: MarketPlace home mortgage LLC states that Micheal Bergum is not employed by them. The original article believed he was employed there because the accused website and other sources stated he was a branch manager. Sorry for the inconvenience and please accept our updated post. 

A convicted child predator named Micheal Bergum of Stillwater who was a branch manager for a local mortgage company has been charged with two counts of child rape after engaging in a reported forced sexual encounter with a fifteen year old child earlier this month. In 2007 and 2008 Bergum was charged with a total of 13 counts of providing alcohol

to minors and five different charges of criminal sexual conduct ranging from 2nd degree to 5th degree it appears from MN court data pictured below. However, par the course, Washington County prosecutors gave him ridiculous plea deals and Bergum only ended up with a conviction for two counts of providing alcohol to minors and two non-felony counts of criminal sexual conduct. The two rape victims were both teenagers but the County didn't prosecute for child victims despite one being 16 and the reported use of the date rape drug "gorilla." One of the victims said she drank it thinking it was alcohol not knowing the term "gorilla" was slang for a date rape drug. The county dropped the felony convictions in exchange for misdemeanors. According to the BCA, it appears Bergum only served 6 months in Jail and 10 years of probation. 

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Micheal Bergum
Booking photo

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To only the surprise of do nothing law makers who haven't passed a sex offender bill into law in two years and the Washington County Prosecutors, Mike Bergum appears to have raped a child again. In a criminal complaint released by the county, they got a report from a 15 year old child this month. She said Bergum picked her up from a coffee shop. It was found the two eventually went back to his house at 104 Lakeside Drive Stillwater, MN 55082. The two had sex and the next morning when the child and Bergum began to have sex again the victim tried to stop him. It is not known from the criminal complaint if the sexual encounters were consensual or if she was under the influence of date rape drugs or alcohol at the time (not that a child can consent to sex).  Police confirmed from video surveillance from the coffee shop he picked up the child there as him and his SUV were on camera. The victim reported in detail to police to look for her black underwear of a specific brand she forgot in his home. Police found the her underwear in the home and unique details of the bedroom she accurately described.   

According to the criminal complaint when the child tried to stop Michael Bergum he "pulled her hair and grabbed her by the neck, asking "Did you like that?" Later that morning VICTIM asked the adult male to drive her home, and he told her that he would not do so until they again had sex." A source who says they know Bergum contacted us about doing an article after they said they over heard him bragging about how he'd get out of these rape charges just like the first time (in 2007 and 2008).  He was thought to be in conversation with his attorney on the phone.  We're inclined to believe this source because they messaged us to look into the story days before we knew from the county that he was arrested and charged. 

Will Mike Bergum again get to laugh in the face of the public as if nothing happened once again? Many convicted rapists from Washington County come back to sexually assault and rape again in the County after their first conviction or even second. These are just some of the articles from the last two years:
Convicted Child Rapist in Oakdale, Wanted for Rape Again, This Time A Baby Sitter, Weak Charges 

Man Who Repeatedly Raped a Child in Oakdale, Raped another Child While on Probation and Will be Out in 2 Years  

Fugitive Child Predator Who Police Report Says Was Caught With Pants Down and About to Rape Child, Found Living at Woodbury Hotel 

No Justice: Man Who Held Woodbury Woman Captive 2 Days and Raped her Released After 15 Months and Now Charged With Stillwater Sexual Assault  

Serial Rapist Caught Living in Woodbury. Broken MN Law Only Requires Him to Register until 2020 

Three Time Convicted Rapist in Woodbury Now Convicted of Trying to Meet Child for Sex. Will be Released Next Year. 

To see dozens more examples in the last two years of insane plea deals from Washington County prosecutors and the weak MN sex offender law letting the public down see: http://wcwatchdog.com/local-sex-offender-articles/

In Minnesota, law makers and prosecutors believe child rapists can be "rehabilitated," do not need to be monitored, and can become good members of society. The evidence is the fact no bill has passed to make sex offender law more tough in the last two years. Also, Only several hundred of the over 20,000 convicted rapists in Minnesota are confined in prison. Most only do a couple years and then are released. More information here:

Watchdog Review of Each of the Fifty States Sex Offender Laws Finds Minnesota Ranked the Most Unsafe  

If you hope to see any law change, continue to contact law makers, especially Senator Warren Limmer who has refused to pass the sex offender bills in his key special committee in the Senate. 

Find your legislator here: https://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/districtfinder

It's clear that just because a child rapist is charged or convicted, doesn't mean justice will be served after sentencing if convicted. Therefore, if the punishment for ALL criminal sexual conduct crimes is raised than weak charges and convictions will be stronger. With the raised bar there won't be a thing as an outrageous plea deal to lesser rape charges or a weak sentence.

Tell legislators to also make the sex offender list public like nearly every other State in the Country does. All but MN, DC, and Maine have public lists. Maine only has 2,700 sex offenders in their state though. Compared to over 20,000 in MN. 

9-2018

Booking #: 1809440 

Bergum Michael James 

104 Lakeside Drive

Stillwater, MN 55082

Arrest Date Time: 9/20/2018 4:30:00 PM 

Arresting Officer(s): SW22248 Julien 

48 Hour Hold: 48 hr rule applies, exp.092218 at 1630 

Charges:

I: Criminal Sex Conduct-3rd Degree-Victim 13-15 Actor greater than 24m older. MN 609.344.1(b), with reference to: 609.344.2(1)

II: Criminal Sex Conduct-3rd Degree-Force or Coercion. MN 609.344.1(c), with reference to: 609.344.2(1)

2007 and 2008 Court Records for Bergum

*In no way do we wish harm to the convicted sex offenders outside the judgement of the law. Posting each criminal's public data anyone can get allows the public to decide from the evidence if they appreciate knowing such data. Such as what these sex offender's last known address is. No representation is made that the individuals listed here are currently on the state's offenders registry. All names presented here were gathered at a past date. Some persons listed might no longer be registered offenders and others might have been added. Some addresses or other data might no longer be current. Owners of Washington County Watchdog assume no responsibility (and expressly disclaim responsibility) for updating this site to keep information current or to ensure the accuracy or completeness of any posted information. All data was only accurate at the time of posting per Government sources provided. Accordingly, you should confirm the accuracy and completeness of all posted information before making any decision related to any data presented on this site. The information on this web site is made available solely to protect the public. Anyone who uses this information to commit a crime or to harass an offender or his or her family is subject to criminal prosecution and civil liability. Message us if you can verify us of an address or change in data.  Washington County Watchdog is not responsible for the accuracy of the content shared, refer to our linked government sources.      

Stillwater Loses Pro-BOLD Majority on the School Board who Closed 3 Schools

On the Horizon of New Beginnings for Stillwater Area Public Schools, Loss of Lehmann Jeopardizes BOLD Plan

STILLWATER, MN - A Stillwater Area Public Schools Board Special Meeting was held early July to appoint an interim school board member to fill former Stillwater School Board Member, Tom Lehmann's vacated seat. In a tabulation vote performed by the remaining six school board members, the vacant seat was won by longtime educator and former Stillwater Junior High

Principal, Donald G. Hovland. Mr. Hovland was selected from a pool of nine candidates and he brings 47 years experience in education, including secondary and post-secondary education. In addition to serving as principal at Stillwater Junior High, Hovland has worked as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, and for school districts in Montana and North Dakota. He has volunteered on the Human Rights Commission for the Stillwater City Council and is currently working with the "One Room Schoolhouse" project in Oak Park Heights. Mr. Hovland has resided in Stillwater for more than 45 years.

Beloved, Closed Schools (Withrow, Marine and Oak Park Elementary) Sit Vacant and Tug Heart Strings of Stillwater Area Public School District Residents

Mr. Hovland's school board seat appointment will last until January 2019. Hovland ran for a school board seat in the 2016 election and finished in seventh place out of ten candidates. Mr. Hovland made clear during the 2016 Stillwater Area Public School Board Election that he was against the Stillwater School District Administrations BOLD (Building Opportunities to Learn and Discover), which called for the closure of Withrow, Marine and Oak Park Elementary Schools. Hovland joins School Board Member's Mike Ptacek, Sarah Stivland and Shelley Pearson who were against the BOLD plan.  

School Board Members Paula O'Loughlin, George Hoeppner and Shelley Pearson up for Re-Election This Fall

School Closing Advocates and Pro-BOLD School Board Members Paula O'Loughlin and George Hoepnner are up for Re-Election in November, along with Shelley Pearson, and Don Hovland's newly appointed seat. The filing for dates for candidates to register will be held July 31st to August 14th. Newcomers in the race and declaring candidacy early are Stillwater Township Resident, Tina Riehle and Grant Resident Liz Weisberg. 

-Shannon Bryant

No Justice: Man Who Held Woodbury Woman Captive 2 Days and Raped her Released After 15 Months and Now Charged With Stillwater Sexual Assault

Richard Jay Holmes

Richard Holmes of last known address of 313 Leeward Trail Woodbury has "allegedly" sexually assaulted two people in four years, this time he's charged with sexually attacking a group home resident. He did more time (23 months) for his burglary conviction in 2003 than he did for his first rape crime in 2014 (15 months).  Holmes should have been in prison for over a decade for the 2014 violent rape in Woodbury where he held a woman captive for two days repeatedly beating her time after time and then violently raping her. She nearly escaped twice when while passed out from drinking but she was caught and punched in the face until she couldn't resist. It wasn't until the victim demanded he look what he'd done to her that he let her have her phone according to a DLonline article from 2014. 

There are dozens of stories just like this where dangerous rapist from Washington County are spending very little time in prison and are released to rape again:   http://wcwatchdog.com/local-sex-offender-articles/. This will continue unless legislators act.

Holmes also has a drug conviction, 3 DWI convictions, violating predatory offender registration, check forgery, and violating order of protection convictions according to the MN BCA. 

There are several reasons why Holmes was only locked up for 15 months. The first is the fact the Washington County Prosecutors dropped the rape charge in 2014 and they didn't charge him with kidnapping or higher degree of felony rape charges:

I: 3rd degree sexual conduct (violent rapists like this are usually are charged with 1st degree)

II: 3rd degree assault (1st degree is only for assaulting cops and some gov. workers; 2nd is only if a weapon is used)

III: False imprisonment  609.255 (this charge is far more weak than kidnapping, which if his 2014 crime doesn't fit the description of what kidnapping, what could?  609.25)

Ask the County Attorney Pete Orput why he isn't directing his prosecutors to pursue to the fullest extent of the law Pete.Orput@co.washington.mn.us 

The second problem is weak sentencing laws in MN. This is evidenced by how Richard Holmes served more time in prison for Buglary (23 months) than holding a person against their will for two days and raping and beating them (15 months). Other problems with MN law to fix can be found in our related post: 

Rampant Sex Crime on Children, in Just 2yrs, 10 Cases From County Alone, 8 Simple Laws to Update 

As stated, Richard Holmes "allegedly" sexually assaulted again in less than four years. This time it was a group home resident. According to the criminal complaint on 3/15/18 he pushed the female victim into the bathroom at the home where she injured her arm and then proceeded to attack her and force her to perform a sex act as he exposed himself. The Washington County prosecutors took almost two weeks to charge him with 2nd degree criminal sexual conduct.

Citizens must contact their legislators if you expect to see this change. Find your legislator here: https://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/districtfinder

The problem is further explained in our related article: Watchdog Review of Each of the Fifty States Sex Offender Laws Finds Minnesota Ranked the Most Unsafe

It's clear that just because a rapist is charged with heavy rape charges, does not mean they will be convicted of it. Therefore, if the punishment for ALL criminal sexual conduct crimes is raised than plea deals will be less weak. 

Tell legislators to also make the sex offender list public like nearly every other State in the County does. All but MN and Maine have public lists. Maine only has 2,700 sex offenders in their state though. Compared to nearly 20,000 in MN. 

For the growing list of the last know location of convicted sex offenders in Washington County: 

Washington County Sex Offenders. Names, Photos, Addresses.

To subscribe for email updates on new offenders and rapist suspects added and other updates go to: 

http://wcwatchdog.com/subscribe/

DATE: 3/28/2018 

DEFENDANT: Richard Jay Holmes 

DOB: 9/7/1982 

CITY/RESIDENCE:  313 Leeward Trail Woodbury (from January criminal complaint for violating offender registration)

MN AGENCY: Stillwater Police Department 

CHARGE: I: Criminal Sex Conduct-2nd Degree-Personal Injury-Force/Coerce 

*In no way do we wish harm to the convicted sex offenders outside the judgement of the law. Posting each criminal's data allows the public to decide from the evidence if they appreciate knowing such data. Such as what these sex offender's last known address is. No representation is made that the individuals listed here are currently on the state's offenders registry. All names presented here were gathered at a past date. Some persons listed might no longer be registered offenders and others might have been added. Some addresses or other data might no longer be current. Owners of Washington County Watchdog assume no responsibility (and expressly disclaim responsibility) for updating this site to keep information current or to ensure the accuracy or completeness of any posted information. All data was only accurate at the time of posting per Government sources provided. Accordingly, you should confirm the accuracy and completeness of all posted information before making any decision related to any data presented on this site. The information on this web site is made available solely to protect the public. Anyone who uses this information to commit a crime or to harass an offender or his or her family is subject to criminal prosecution and civil liability. Message us if you can verify us of an address or change in data.  Washington County Watchdog is not responsible for the accuracy of the content shared, refer to our linked government sources.