An Isanti County man charged with hiding a Forest Lake teen in a tent in rural Pine County, Minn., for months was sentenced to four years in prison Friday.
Shawn Patrick Bellach (Courtesy of the Pine County Sheriff’s Office)
Shawn Patrick Bellach, 39, of Dalbo, Minn., pleaded guilty in August to felony charges of kidnapping and second-degree criminal sexual conduct and was sentenced in the 10th Judicial District Court, which includes Pine County. Each count includes a sentence of four years, which will be served concurrently. Bellach was credited for 25 days served.
One count each of soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct, deprivation of custodial or parental rights, and second-degree criminal sexual conduct were dismissed as part of a plea agreement Bellach reached with the prosecution in August. Bellach is required to register as a predatory offender for the remainder of his life.
Bellach was arrested in July 2023 after the teen girl, who was then 14, was found living in a tent north of Grasston, Minn., late that month. She had been missing since May after leaving her house on a bicycle with an attached trailer, taking her cat and $3,000 in baby-sitting money.
The girl’s mother told the Pioneer Press in June that the girl left a note saying she was going to be “traveling around the United States with her boyfriend.”
Bellach knew the girl’s mother and agreed to help the girl run away to a home belonging to friends of his in Grasston, according to the complaint. The friends agreed to let the girl stay in a tent on the property temporarily after Bellach told them that the girl was abused at home, the complaint states.
According to the complaint, a search of the girl’s cellphone showed videos of Bellach and the girl living together in the tent. In one video, Bellach asks the girl what it is like “dating someone who is 20 years older than her.”
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