Timothy Knut Severud (dob 1/26/1965), a worker on the Minnesota USA Staff, was charged and pled guilty to second-degree criminal sexual conduct for molesting a 10-year-old Alexandria area girl. He was jailed in 2007 and released in July 2012.

Mr Severud labored in the following areas (please be aware that this list is not all inclusive):

• Jun97 No. Minneapolis
• 97-98 Eagle Bend
• 98-99 Duluth/Northeast field
• 99-00 Southwest
• 00-01 No Minneapolis
• 01-03 Out of work. Stayed at sister’s in Jordon, MN
• 03-04 Eagle Bend
• 04-05 Alexandria
• 05-06 West Minneapolis
• 06-07 Southwest

Special Meetings out of state:

• Dec 98 Dryden, Ontario
• April 99 Iowa rounds
• Dec. 03 South Dakota
• Dec. 04 Ontario

Special meetings in state:

• 2004 St Paul Princeton Duluth Babbitt Bemidji
• 2005 Athingyer Barrett Wadena Twin Valley Wannaska
• 2006 Eden Prairie Cottonwood Heron Lake Kasota Stewartville
• 2007 Osseo Princeton Duluth Pequot Lakes Park Rapids

Conventions:

• 1999 Emo, ON
• 2000 Hermosa, SD
• 2001 Hermosa, SD
• 2004 Parma, ID He spent about three weeks in ID visiting old friends
• 2005 Shoals, IN
• 2006 Hermosa, SD

‘TRAVELING MINISTER’ SENTENCED FOR SEXUAL MISCONDUCT

By Erin Klegstad, Staff Reporter, Alexandria Echo Press – Published Wednesday, December 19, 2007

http://www.echopress.com/event/article/id/52342/publisher_ID/2/

A “traveling minister” was sentenced Friday in Douglas County District Court to 90 months in state prison.

Timothy Knut Severud, 42, pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal sexual conduct for molesting a 10-year-old Alexandria area girl.

Judge Peter Irvine also ordered Severud to register as a sex offender and serve a 10-year conditional release period after his prison term.

As a member of the “church with no name,” Severud stayed with families throughout the Midwest while traveling from place to place.

He stayed with the victim’s family numerous times during the past several years, said the victim’s father in the criminal complaint.

“Oddly enough, I had never heard of this sect of Christianity until this case,” said Douglas County Attorney Chris Karpan, adding that members are low-key and don’t have homes or churches.

During the sentencing, the girl’s father read a “very poignant, well-written” statement, Karpan said; many of the 30 to 40 people in the courtroom were choked up.

Law enforcement officials are continuing to investigate Severud and all of the families he has stayed with to ensure there are no other victims, Karpan said.

Here’s what happened in this incident, according to the criminal complaint.

On July 23, the girl’s parents returned home from the grocery store and didn’t see her or their 6-year-old daughter. When the father went into the girls’ room, he found Severud on top of his 10-year-old daughter, who was lying on her back, fully clothed, with her legs spread.

Severud was “gyrating…his pelvis juxtaposed over hers” while holding her hands back.

Upon confrontation from the girl’s parents, Severud blamed the girls, saying they had been inappropriate with him, adding “there had been inappropriate behavior between him and the girls for quite some time.”

In a phone conversation the following day, Severud told the girls’ mother “the children had masturbated him.”

Severud turned himself in at the law enforcement center on July 27 and admitted inappropriate behavior between him and both girls about six times while he stayed with the family.

He said he “let the kids have their way with him” and that he “fell for a 10-year-old girl.”

Sergeant Jackie Notch interviewed both girls on July 27. The 10-year-old girl recounted several incidents of Severud inappropriately touching her, including the July 23 incident. When she had a hard time verbally telling of the abuse, Notch had her demonstrate using anatomically correct dolls.

The girl also said Severud inappropriately touched her several times while swimming together.

In a separate interview, the 6-year-old girl told Notch that Severud hadn’t touched her, but had touched her sister’s “privates.”

About the sect: Members of the “church with no name” refer to each other as friends, saints or truthers; ministers are referred to as workers, servants or laborers.

They are often called “Two by Twos” because of their tradition of sending pairs of missionaries to evangelize. Their ministers have officially registered the group with various government agencies under the name “the Christian Conventions” in the U.S.

The church was founded around 1897-1899 by William Irvine in Ireland. Today, membership is estimated at between 250,000 and 600,000 worldwide.

Justine Wettschreck of the Worthington Daily Globe contributed to this story. That paper and the Echo Press are both owned by Forum Communications.

***

Meeting will inform public of sex offender moving to Alexandria

A meeting to make the public aware of a “level 3” sex offender who is moving to Alexandria will take place Tuesday, July 24 at 5 p.m. at Alexandria City Hall.

http://www.echopress.com/event/article/id/96370/publisher_ID/2/

Published July 20, 2012, 02:25 PM

A meeting to make the public aware of a “level 3” sex offender who is moving to Alexandria will take place Tuesday, July 24 at 5 p.m. at Alexandria City Hall.

The Alexandria Police Department issued a news release today about the community notification meeting, which is required under Minnesota law when a sexual offender or predator is released from prison or a secure treatment facility and law enforcement believes that releasing the information will benefit public safety and protection.

The offender is Timothy Knut Severud, 47. A “level 3” offender is considered at the highest level of risk for committing similar crimes. He is moving to the 500 block of 3rd Avenue West, according to the police department.

He is not wanted by the police at this time and he has served the sentence that was imposed on him.

The notification of his release is not intended to increase fear in the community, the police department emphasized. It is letting the public know because it believes that an informed public is a safer public.

The Alexandria Police Department, the supervising release agent, and the Minnesota Department of Corrections may not direct where the offender does or does not reside, nor can these agencies direct where he/she works or goes to school. The risk level of this offender has been determined based largely on his/her potential to re-offend based on his/her previous criminal behavior.

Convicted sexual and predatory offenders have always been released to live in communities. It wasn’t until the passage of the Registration Act that law enforcement had an ability track the movement of these offenders after their initial release.

With the passage of the Community Notification Act, law enforcement may now share information about many of these offenders with the public.

Those who abuse the information to threaten, harass or intimidate a registered offender is unacceptable and such acts could be charged as a crime, according to the police department. Such abuses could potentially end the ability of law enforcement to provide these notifications.

Many of these offenders derive their power from the opportunity that secrecy provides, according to Alexandria Police Chief Rick Wyffels.

Predator returns to Alexandria

http://www.echopress.com/event/article/id/96468/publisher_ID/2/

Published July 27, 2012, 12:00 AM

One-time minister with ‘church with no name’ released from prison for sex crimes in 2007.

A level three predatory offender has returned to Alexandria after serving his sentence for crimes committed in the area. More than a dozen concerned citizens attended a community notification meeting Tuesday at Alexandria City Hall.

Michele Murphy, community education and notification coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC), led the session with assistance from Alexandria Police Chief Rick Wyffels.

Timothy Knut Severud, 47, will reside at the 500 block of 3rd Avenue in Alexandria; he was released on July 25. Severud was convicted in 2007 of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and has been discharged from prison for offenses involving sexual contact with female children. He was originally sentenced to 90 months imprisonment; two-thirds of the sentence was served incarcerated in a DOC institution, one-third will be served on parole.

Murphy said Severud has a history of engaging in sexual contact with numerous female victims between the ages of five and 12-years-old. The contact in most cases included fondling and he was known to his victims through his work.

“He was not charged or convicted for most of these offenses,” Murphy said. “Most sexually abused children are abused by someone not on the sex offender registry.”

According to the Minnesota DOC, Severud gained access to the victims while working as a traveling minister who sometimes stayed at the victims’ family home. Severud’s offenses involved fondling and simulated sexual acts with a 10-year-old girl.

Severud was a member of a religious sect referred to as the “church with no name” in which two members, called “two-by-twos” would travel to a community to spread a religious message. Severud was believed to be a minister for the church.

Severud will be under intensive supervised release (ISR). He will be monitored with a global positioning system (GPS) and observed by four agents who will make unannounced random visits to his residence at least four times a week.

Severud must complete sex offender treatment and is not allowed access to the Internet or social networking sites.

Presently, a class-action lawsuit is challenging the legality of the state’s sex offender treatment program, stating that it is unconstitutional to commit a person for medical treatment and “close the door forever,” according to a report in the Star Tribune.

The same article said that Governor Mark Dayton’s administration supports the state providing better therapeutic treatment for more serious offenders and pursuing less expensive and more flexible options for those offenders deemed less of a risk to the public.

The extra observation that accompanies ISR offenders comes with an additional cost to the community. ISR costs about $18 per day, per offender and an additional $13 to $19 per day, per offender, for GPS monitoring. Traditional supervised release costs about $4 per day. There are approximately 1,200 offenders served quarterly on ISR throughout Minnesota.

All level three sex offenders are placed on GPS monitoring, also known as house arrest, for a minimum of 60 days during the first phase of their re-entry to the public. ISR includes four phases, which all include unpredicted visits from agents and drug and alcohol testing.

Severud will be on ISR until 2025. After that time, he will still be required to register any changes in his appearance or lifestyle with local law enforcement.

Registration differs from supervision in that data gathered serves as a tool for law enforcement and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to track and observe offenders whereas supervision applies stricter conditions and agents to provide a certain level of accountability.

As of January 1, 2012 approximately 7,300 of Minnesota’s 17,000 registered predatory offenders have been assigned a risk level. Offenders are assigned a risk level prior to release from a correctional facility based on specific criteria, Murphy said.

An End-of-Confinement Review Committee determines the risk level of offenders 90 days before the individual’s release date. Committees consist of prison wardens or facility heads, law enforcement officers, professionals trained in assessing sex offenders, caseworkers experienced in supervising sex offenders and victim services professionals.

There are three levels based on the risk to reoffend. Level one carries a lower risk to the public, level two is moderate and three is higher. Murphy said Minnesota has started using a new system in 2012 to determine risk levels.

“There is a tool that we use now called the MnSOST-3.1 that was developed and validated on Minnesota sex offenders,” Murphy said.

MnSOST-3.1 is an actuarial tool that gauges criteria observed by a psychologist. The machine generates a presumptive risk level number that is evaluated by the review committee before a majority vote decides the offender’s public risk.

Predatory offenders are subject to provisions of the Minnesota Community Notification Act, such as public information meetings, as long as they are required to register as offenders. Generally, the length of time an offender must register is 10 years after release or until correctional supervision ends, whichever is longer. Severud is required to register for life.

Less information is provided to the public on level one and level two predators. There are 71 registered offenders in Alexandria and a total of 86 in Douglas County. When a level two offender moves into an area, notification is given to schools, daycares and other establishments that may serve individuals that could be victimized.

Minnesota has required registration of predatory offenders since 1991. The Community Notification act became effective in 1997.

The purpose of the community meeting is to enhance public safety through knowledge of the offender’s general area of residence. Use of this information to intimidate, harass or threaten the offender is considered a crime. If anyone observes any suspicious activity or has cause for concern they are directed to call the Alexandria Police Department at (320) 763-6631.

Additional information on Minnesota predatory offenders can be found at www.corr.state.mn.us . An offender locator search and video are available at http://bit.ly/Q3GWJx. Non-compliant offenders can be found at http://bit.ly/Q4ckaH . A national registry, the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website, can be found at www.nsopr.gov . This site is a continued effort to create a comprehensive national database and does not yet have full cooperation from all 50 states.