After a weeklong trial, Anoka County jurors acquitted a Blaine teacher of charges that he molested a student.
Kenneth Sonnenfeld Jr., 54, of Oak Grove, was charged last year with second-degree criminal sexual conduct after a 10-year-old student of Johnsville Elementary accused him of touching her while she stood at his desk during his fourth-grade class from December 2014 to May 2015.
The jury deliberated for about two hours before returning a not-guilty verdict last Friday, said Sonnenfeld's attorney, Joe Friedberg.
Sonnenfeld denied molesting the girl. Friedberg said he argued to the jurors that the prosecution had no corroboration to support the student's allegations. He said investigators failed to interview any other student in the class.
"I definitely accused the [investigator] of being negligent," Friedberg said.
Sonnenfeld had been placed on leave following the charges. A spokesman for the Anoka-Hennepin School District said Sonnenfeld remains on leave but declined to share any other information about the teacher due to Minnesota's open records law.
