A former Tartan High School band director has admitted in court to sexually assaulting a DeLaSalle High School student in 2022.
Daniel James Felton, 32, pleaded guilty last week in Hennepin County District Court to the sole count of felony third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with assaulting the then-17-year-old girl while she was his music student at the Catholic high school in Minneapolis.
Felton, who was charged last August, entered the plea on Friday after reaching an agreement with the prosecution that calls for up to 120 days in the workhouse, five years of probation and a stay of imposition of his sentence, which means the felony conviction will be considered a misdemeanor if he successfully complies with the terms of his probation. Sentencing is scheduled for July 16.
Felton was the music director at DeLaSalle for nearly two years before leaving the school in August 2022 for Tartan in Oakdale, according to his now-deleted LinkedIn profile. The online page also said he was a professional gospel musician and a band director at The Holy Christian Church International in St. Paul.
Felton resigned from Tartan shortly after the victim filed a personal injury lawsuit against him and DeLaSalle in Hennepin County District Court. The civil suit remains pending in court, with a judge halting further proceedings in September until the criminal case concludes.
Felton lived in Brooklyn Park when the cases were filed but has since moved to Celina, Texas, court records show.
Assaulted in his car
The criminal complaint says the victim went to Minneapolis police in January 2024 and reported Felton assaulted her several times beginning in April 2022, which was her senior year at DeLaSalle. She said he was her band and choir teacher during her junior and senior years.
Felton added her on Instagram in April 2022 and began sending direct messages, which became sexual, she reported.
She said the first assault happened that month after Felton offered her a ride home after a concert. Instead of driving straight home, she told police, he took her to an empty parking lot and touched her in a “sexual manner,” placing his hand on her inner thigh, the complaint says. She reported the interaction made her feel uncomfortable and she asked him to take her home.
Additional sexual assaults took place between April 2022 and August 2022, mostly in his car, she told police. She reported he would “emotionally coerce” her into sex acts.
Police were given Instagram messages that Felton and the girl purportedly exchanged between April 2022 and September 2022. The messages include Felton telling her multiple times he loves her and describing in detail what he wanted to do to her, the complaint says.
Related Articles
DoorDash delivery driver pleads guilty to stealing $2.5 million in deliveries scam
Witnesses put suspected drunk driver’s speed at 90-100 mph before fatal St. Paul crash
Man shot by St. Paul officer during search after sex assault gets 35-year sentence
Mounds View deaths of 2 men investigated as murder-suicide
Judge reduces Menendez brothers’ murder sentences, putting them a step closer to freedom
The civil suit was filed Feb. 9 by the Minneapolis law firm Storms Dworak on behalf of the victim, who is listed as “Jane Doe.” It includes screenshots of sexually-explicit Instagram messages purportedly sent to the girl by Felton and alleges several assaults, including one in his DeLaSalle office.
Felton also worked as a music teacher at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis from January 2016 to early November 2018, according to the Minneapolis School District.
Felton taught in the Osseo school district in 2018 and 2019, then for the Spring Lake Park school district until leaving for DeLaSalle, according to his deleted LinkedIn profile. He had earned a Bachelor’s degree in music from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., and then a master’s degree in music education from the University of Minnesota.
Felton’s teaching license is no longer valid, according to the Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board’s website.
Leave a Reply