New allegations surfaced Monday against 22-year-old who posed as White Bear Lake student

A 22-year-old man who officials say posed as a teen to enroll and attend classes last month at White Bear Lake Area High School is accused of “apparent predatory behavior” involving girls as young as 14 and sending a sexually explicit video “likely involving a minor” to girls in Farmington and Mahtomedi, according to a police search warrant affidavit.

The new allegations surfaced in an Oct. 3 affidavit that was written by a White Bear Lake police investigator while requesting copies of the man’s Liberian birth certificate and documents he used to enroll at the high school.

The court filing, which was unsealed Monday in Ramsey County District Court, says the man admitted to the investigator during an interview that he got through the enrollment process by using a Liberian birth certificate, and that he also has a Minnesota birth certificate.

The school district has said the man was enrolled Sept. 3-29 as an 18 year old, and that he participated in three practices with the high school’s football team.

The Pioneer Press is not naming the man because he has not been charged with any crimes relating to his time as a high school student.

White Bear Lake Police Chief Dale Hager said Monday a case against the man could be sent this week to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office for possible charges. Hager previously said the man is under investigation for fraud, forgery and unlawful conduct involving interaction with minors.

The man was arrested Sept. 29 in Plymouth on warrants for alleged probation violations stemming from a 2024 theft conviction in Anoka County and a 2023 conviction in Washington County for sending a 15-year-old girl a nude picture of himself through Snapchat. The Hennepin County jail booking sheet listed his place of residence as Lino Lakes.

The man pleaded guilty to the Washington County probation violation on Oct. 2, according to court records, which do not disclose what the violation entailed. A judge ordered him to complete three days of work service, and he was released from custody the same day.

A search warrant affidavit filed in Washington County on Oct. 1 described allegations that he had received nude photos from one girl, and that several parents reported “possible sexual assaults.”

‘Tried to befriend girls’

According to the latest affidavit, the man’s ruse was reported to police Sept. 29 after parents, students and staff were “alarmed (the man) was in the school on false pretenses masquerading as a student.” An initial investigation showed he was 22 and enrolled using fraudulent documentation and a false name.

Over the next week, the police investigator spoke to “numerous teen girls who had contact with (the man)” — mostly through Snapchat, where he “tried to befriend girls as young as 14,” the affidavit said. In most of the high school cases, the girls rebuffed his advances and requests to hang out, get rides home or go to their houses, and they blocked him on social media, after “feeling badgered or coerced.”

His “true identity” was revealed when he was named in public jail records following his Sept. 29 arrest, the affidavit said, and the “girls believed his advances were sexually motivated.”

One girl, who had attended the high school’s homecoming dance with the man, warned others about him.

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Investigations into possible sexual contact with girls under age 16 are ongoing with law enforcement agencies “as far south as Farmington, and all the way” to Sherburne County, the affidavit said. His alleged “behavior involves ‘friending’ as many teens as he can, and then targeting girls he’s interested in via social media, some as young as 14.”

Authorities were trying to reveal the identity of the girl seen in the sexually explicit video the man allegedly shared to girls Farmington and Mahtomedi, the affidavit said.

The Forest Lake school district previously said the man was a student at Forest Lake Area High School from January 2022 to early January 2023 and that he played football for some of the 2022 season.

He attended Centennial Area Learning Center from early September 2023 to mid-December of that year, according to the Centennial School District. He then participated until late May 2024 in the district’s online program designed for students who need to make up credit toward their diploma, but did not graduate from the district.

Meanwhile, a St. Paul police spokeswoman said Monday that no arrests have been made in the assault of the man, which happened sometime between Oct. 3-4. Police said the man, who suffered minor injuries, apparently knew the people involved, and investigators were trying to determine whether the assault was related to the allegations against him.