A onetime choir director for a small school district in northwestern Minnesota was given 30 days in jail Thursday for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl.
Richard J. Schrom, 30, of Fertile was sentenced in Todd County District Court after pleading guilty to third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the assault last month. As part of the plea deal, a more serious first-degree criminal sexual conduct count was dismissed.
Judge Daniel Benson chose to set aside a three-year term that would have had Schrom locked up for two years, with the balance on supervised release.
Benson placed Schrom on supervised probation for the next 15 years. During that time, he's barred from having any contact with minors other than his own daughter and only while supervised by his wife.
Schrom was also ordered to register with the state as a predatory offender and stay away from sexually explicit material. Any internet use must be with his probation agent's approval and occur only with the use of monitoring software.
Schrom turned in his resignation three days later. His online biography said he was in his seventh year with the district, where he directed choirs at all school levels and gave voice lessons.
Schrom's online biography says he graduated from Roseville High School in 2011, earned a bachelor's degree in music from North Dakota State University and a master's in music education from NDSU in 2022.
A nurse at St. Cloud Hospital alerted the Todd County Sheriff's Office about a 15-year-old girl who was there for a sexual assault exam.
The girl's father provided the investigator with photos of Snapchat text messages exchanged between Schrom and the girl. One of them reads, "the last thing that needs to happen is you getting [pregnant]."
Hospital documents acquired by the investigator revealed the girl saying she went to a cabin belonging to the relative of a friend on July 22, 2023, and was alone with Schrom while others went to bed. Schrom then "engaged in several forceful acts" leading to intercourse, the charges read.
