A fire inspector with the city of St. Paul’s Department of Safety and Inspections has been charged with three felonies after authorities say he allegedly picked up a girl who had missed her bus, brought her to his apartment and tried to sexually assault her and pay her for sex.

James Allen Thomas, 73, of Woodbury, was charged with one count of kidnapping, one count of second-degree attempted criminal sexual conduct with someone under 14, and one count of soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct, according to the criminal complaint.

The city confirmed that Thomas is employed as a DSI Fire Safety Inspector II.

The complaint gave the following details about the charges:

At about 10:12 a.m. on May 21, The 13-year-old said that after she missed her bus she began to walk to school. As she walked, she decided to go into a medical clinic nearby to ask for help because she was getting cold and wet from the rain. As she neared the clinic’s entrance on Phalen Boulevard, a man in a gray SUV asked if she needed help.

Shivering, she said yes and then used her school iPad to communicate to the man that she needed a ride to middle school. When she got into his vehicle, she noticed the man was wearing a uniform with a patch and his name embroidered on the shirt. He also had a radio “like a police officer,” the complaint said. She assumed he was a security officer.

Rather than drive toward the school, he drove her to an apartment building, brought her into an apartment and locked the door behind them. He motioned for her to go into the bedroom. She did and sat on the bed.

When he tried to touch her and then offered her $50, she said no. He then grabbed her iPad and asked if her location was on. She said it did and that she needed to get to school. They left immediately after that.

He brought her back to his car and asked questions such as if she had ever had sex and what her home address was. The girl remembered her mother had warned her to never give out her address so the girl gave her school address. Eventually, he brought her to the school. As soon as she got out of the car, she began to cry.

Thomas got out of the car when he saw a staff member hugging the girl and said he was a “sergeant with the St. Paul Fire Department” who had picked the girl up and brought her to school.

Shortly after, the girl was taken to the Midwest Children’s Resource Center for a medical evaluation.

The girl identified Thomas in a photo line up and then was able to identify his apartment building and apartment when authorities took her to the area. Security camera footage from the medical clinic showed the girl getting into Thomas’ vehicle.

Thomas was arrested on June 5, 2025. He waived his legal rights and admitted giving the girl a ride to school that day. When he was told that his vehicle was “equipped with a device that automatically tracks exactly where the vehicle goes and how it’s being driven,” he then added that he had to stop by his apartment to lock it because it had been broken into recently. He said the girl remained in the car at the time.

He denied touching the girl other than possibly grazing her arm when he looked at her iPad. He also added that the girl “looked about 10 years old and seemed “scared (expletive)” while she was with him.

Thomas is scheduled to have his first court appearance at 9 a.m. Monday.

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FORT LAUDERDALE — Nate Schmidt arrived in Florida uneasy about starting his tenure with the Panthers.

Florida, coming off the franchise’s first Stanley Cup title, needed to replace a pair of defensemen it lost in the offseason, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Brandon Montour. Schmidt, who had played under coach Paul Maurice briefly in Winnipeg, was here to fill that void.

“I thought I had it pretty difficult the first couple weeks,” Schmidt said, “being like, ‘How do you find your way with this team that just won? How do you know where you fit in with this group and what you can do to provide? Is it enough? Is it the same that they lost?’

“All those things (are) in your head, until the first couple weeks, you start to settle in, and you get into the system, and then you start to get in and integrate with the guys.”

But Schmidt, at 33 years old, wanted to get back to his old style of play. And he wanted to win. The Panthers gave him a shot to do both. Schmidt has become a big contributor during Florida’s trip back to the Stanley Cup Final, and now that Schmidt is three wins away from lifting the Cup for the first time, Maurice said the veteran defenseman has “found his fun again.”

“I’m so happy for him,” Maurice said. “I think especially because I go back to the kind of conversations we had this summer of what he was looking for from a tour with the Florida Panthers. He’s … not 23 anymore, and he wanted to get his game back. That was the whole point. He felt he was a better player than he was playing, and he took full responsibility for that. There was no blame to anybody else. He just thought he had more to give.

“And it took him probably three or four months to get used to the way that we play, and since that time, he’s been incredibly effective. What I’m most happy for him is especially in Game 1 — (Game 2) as well — but he’s getting up the ice, and he looks like he did when he was a kid, when he first came in the league in Washington. He was dynamic with the way he’d get up the ice, and then coaches beat that out of you and take the fun of the game for you. But he looks like he’s found his fun again.”

It took time for Schmidt, a St. Cloud native and Gophers alum, to get acclimated. He said it took until Florida played Tampa for a pair of games in Finland that he finally felt like he was fully integrated into the squad.

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Who will hoist the Stanley Cup? NHL’s final 4 of Stars-Oilers and Panthers-Hurricanes has a familiar feel.

“What (the coaches) talk about is where you are in our system, how you fit, what your role is, and knowing that it’s okay just to do that,” Schmidt said. “We don’t ask you to do more. So that’s one of the biggest things; I felt once I learned that and understand that that’s good enough, and you don’t have to try and be like, ‘Oh, I need to be playing more. I need to do this. I need to do that.’

“It was like, ‘No, no, you’re right where we need you to be.’”

Schmidt has been exactly what the Panthers need him to be. Not only is he playing well on the ice, he is providing levity off the ice. Maurice called him a “big smile guy.”

“You need those personalities in the room, especially this time of year when games get tighter,” forward Sam Reinhart said. “Nothing changes about him and it’s huge to have personalities like that in the locker room.”

Schmidt has excelled in the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final. He had two assists in a losing effort in Game 1; in that game, hockey analytics website Hockey Stat Card rated him the top player on either team for that game. In Game 2, he added two more assists and earned a 2.24 game score, which was sixth on the team.

“He’s been playing unreal, making some huge plays for us at key moments,” defenseman Gustav Forsling said. He’s been great.”

Schmidt has reached this point in the playoffs before. He reached the Final with Vegas in 2018, scoring three times and notching four assists before the Golden Knights lost to Washington four games to one. But that team, Schmidt said, was happy just advancing through the postseason during their surprise run to the Final. Then in his mid-20s, Schmidt assumed getting to the Final would be a common experience. But it has taken seven years and three team changes to get back. Now he is with a team that expects to be in the Final, and they expect to win.

“When we won the conference final in Vegas, it was a much different feel than what we wanted here,” Schmidt said. “It was like, ‘Guys, this is kind of what this team believes that they are supposed to do. … This is where we’re supposed to be.’”

GAMING

Jennifer Lauerman

Canterbury Park Racetrack and Casino, Shakopee, announced that Jennifer Lauerman has been named vice president of marketing and entertainment. Lauerman most recently was a partner with Bold North Associates overseeing Taste of the NFL and Taste of the Draft. Prior to that, Lauerman was senior director of partnership marketing for the Minnesota Super Bowl Committee.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

JNBA Financial Advisors, Minneapolis, announced that CEO and Chairman Richard S. Brown has been named top adviser in Minnesota on the Forbes Best-in-State Top Wealth Advisors-High Net Worth list.

GOVERNMENT

Minnesota Housing, the state’s housing finance agency, announced that Andy Pratt has joined as finance counsel. Pratt most recently practiced real estate law at Messerli Kramer in Minneapolis, and before that was with Eckberg Lammers in Stillwater and RBC Capital Markets in Minneapolis.

HEALTH CARE

HealthPartners, a Bloomington-based health insurer and health care provider, announced the election of Paul Williams as chair of its board of directors, Laura Liu as vice chair and Morris Goodwin as treasurer, and the addition of board members Sherri Broderius and Mary Grove.

LAW

The Minnesota Judicial Branch announced that the Honorable Christopher Jon Lehmann has been elected by his peers to serve as chief judge of Minnesota’s First Judicial District for a two-year term beginning July 1, and chambered in Dakota County; and that the Honorable Charles Webber has been elected to serve as assistant chief judge in the First Judicial District, chambered in Scott County. … Moss & Barnett, Minneapolis, announced that attorney April E. King has joined the firm.

MANUFACTURING

Donaldson Co. Inc., a Bloomington-based maker of filtration systems for industry, announced the following in-house 2024 inventor award winners: Emerging Innovator award: Mikayla Yoder; Manufacturing Excellence: Jon Haag; Technology Champion: Gert Willems; Technology Achievement: Vincent Kayaerts, and the Frank A. Donaldson award for long-term contributions: Dan Tuma. In 2024, Donaldson registered 392 new patents and currently has a total of 3,260 active U.S. and international patents.

NONPROFITS

Elder Voice Advocates, a Minneapolis-based organization supporting the policy interests of older adults and their families, announced the hire of Josh Sande as associate director, a new position, effective May 15. Most recently, Sande served as committee administrator with the Minnesota House of Representatives, leading the work of the Health Finance & Policy Committee. … The Minnesota Justice Research Center, a Minneapolis-based organization advocating for change in the criminal justice system, announced the hire of Jana Kooren as associate director. Kooren most recently was with the Minnesota Freedom Fund, and before that the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota.

OPENINGS

My Salon Suite, a national retail personal-care franchise, announced the opening of a location at 1341 113th Ave NE, Blaine. The franchise owner is Brian Farrell, who also owns My Salon Suite locations in Bloomington, Plymouth, Apple Valley, Chanhassen and Rogers.

ORGANIZATIONS

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation announced that Whitney Harvey, senior director of workforce solutions for the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, was selected to participate in the 11th cohort of its Business Leads Fellowship Program, which trains and provides participants from state and local chambers, economic development agencies and trade associations with resources and networking opportunities.

RECREATION

Seagull Outfitters and Cabins, a Grand Marais-based Boundary Waters outfitter and provider of cabin rentals on Seagull Lake, announced Grant and Christina Hopke as new owners, taking over from Debbie Mark, who is retiring.

SERVICES

St. Paul-based Ecolab, which provides businesses with sanitary protection products and services and also runs several related subsidiaries, announced the appointment and election of Marion Gross to the Ecolab board as an independent director. Gross previously was executive vice president and global chief supply chain officer at McDonalds.

TECHNOLOGY

Arctic Wolf, an Eden Prairie-based provider of cybersecurity products and services for business, announced the promotions of Chris Kraft to chief product officer and Jeff Green as chief development officer.

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EMAIL ITEMS to businessnews@pioneerpress.com.

The Twins this morning placed right-hander Zebby Matthews on the 15-day Injured List with a right shoulder strain.

Matthews, 25, was recalled from Class AAA St. Paul on May 18 and has made four starts for the big league club, going 1-1 with a 5.21 earned-run average. He has fanned 25 and walked eight in 19 innings.

The move is retroactive to June 5.

To take his place on the 26-man active roster, the Twins recalled left-hander Danny Coulombe from his rehab assignment and reinstated him from the 15-day Injured List.

Before being injured Coulombe had made 19 appearances without allowing an earned run for the Twins. His 16.2 scoreless innings streak is tied for the second-longest active streak in baseball. He has allowed only eight hits, walked two and struck out 19.

The Twins are losing starters, and they’ll have to call up another to take Matthews’ spot in the rotation. The right-hander was filling the role of Simeon Woods Richardson, who was demoted to St. Paul after going 2-2 in eight appearances, allowing 44 hits and 14 walks in 37.2 innings.

This week, the Twins learned they’ll be without their best starter, Pablo Lopez, for up to two months because of a muscle strain in his right shoulder. David Festa was called up to take his last spot in the rotation and was drilled for eight runs in a 14-3 loss to the A’s in Sacramento.

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