In November 2010, Bluestem received a tip that a man who had been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a girl repeatedly--and this individual had been given a pardon extraordinary by the state board of pardons.
His original crime? The statutory rape of a fourteen-year old, who he later married. The girl making the 2010 accusations later changed her story and the charges were dropped.
Mankato Free Press crime beat staff writer Dan Neinabor reports that man's son, Jonathan Giefer, has now been convicted of sexually assaulting a girl under 13. In Judge rules Vernon Center teen assaulted girl, he writes:
A 17-year-old Vernon Center boy was found guilty in Jackson County juvenile court of sexually assaulting a girl under the age of 13, according to documents filed in Blue Earth County District Court.Jonathan Alan Giefer had been staying at a residence in the Windom area when the incident took place March 31, 2012, court records say.
Giefer was driving an all-terrain vehicle on trails in the area and took the victim for a ride into the woods. Someone else who knew Giefer and was riding another ATV in the same area noticed Giefer’s ATV stopped running for a short time while he was in the woods.
The victim later told an adult that Giefer had made sexual contact with her in the woods.
Read the details of the case at the Mankato Free Press. Nienabor notes:
The case was moved to Blue Earth County last month because Giefer lives in Vernon Center. His parents are Jeremy and Susan Giefer, according to court documents filed because he is a juvenile.
Jeremy Giefer was arrested in November 2010 after a teen girl reported he had repeatedly sexually assaulted her. A trial that was set to take place in December 2011 was canceled after the girl changed her story.
The allegations against Jeremy Giefer drew statewide attention because he had received a pardon from former Gov. Tim Pawlenty for a previous conviction for sexually assaulting a teenager. One reason cited for pardoning Giefer, who was 19 when that crime was committed, was that he later married the victim in that case.
It would be reckless to speculate about the family pathology at this distance. We do hope that his victim receives the help she likely needs.
As for the Giefer family, it's never their fault, apparently:
Jeremy Giefer said Tuesday the charges against his son were blown out of proportion.
"They're doing what they're doing because of me," he said. "They didn't have a case against me, so they went after him."
Update: Worth adding: Jeremy Giefer had been charged with domestic assault for slapping his son across the face so hard that that he was charged with domestic assault. As City Pages Nick Pinto reported in Jeremy Giefer charged with domestic assault before Pawlenty pardon [UPDATE], Giefer the Elder "was able to get the charges of domestic assault and malicious punishment of a child dismissed condition that he go a year without racking up any similar offenses." Go read the 2010 City Pages article.
This family's behavior has become entaggled often enough with social services and law enforcement to suggest that there may be domestic abuse across several generations.
A friend asks what's the word for when gothic becomes rococo? We say "Vernon Center."
Photo: Vernon Center's watertower.
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