A former martial arts instructor in Detroit Lakes has been sentenced to 12 years in prison at St. Cloud for sexually assaulting two girls.
Patrick D. Fineday, 65, was sentenced Wednesday in Becker County District Court on one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. A second charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct was dropped in a plea agreement.
According to court records, on Feb. 25 an investigator with the Becker County Sheriff's Office received a report from a Becker County elementary school of a sexual assault involving a girl related to Fineday.
The abuse allegedly occurred at Fineday's home, in multiple incidents over a number of years, ending in the fall of 2021.
The girl attended a forensic interview at the Red River Children's Advocacy Center in Fargo on March 3. During the interview, she talked about the sexual abuse and said she did not tell anyone at the time because she didn't think anyone would believe her.
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On March 11, officers interviewed Fineday at the Detroit Lakes Police Department, and he admitted to sexually assaulting the girl in the last two years.
He also admitted to sexually assaulting another girl, also related to him, approximately eight years ago, and said that it had never been investigated by law enforcement.
The victims were not students of Fineday, who formerly ran Pat's Martial Arts Tae Kwon Do School and was a longtime martial arts instructor in the Becker County area.
On June 29, Becker County District Judge Gretchen Thilmony sentenced Fineday to 144 months in prison, with credit for 111 days served in jail. He was ordered to pay $250 in court fees and register as a predatory offender.
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