A former Columbia Heights middle school teacher and football coach has been charged with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy who had been one of his students and recording the acts on cellphone video.
Daniel R. Laskowski, 32, of Maple Grove, was charged Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court with first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct and using a juvenile in the production of pornography.
Laskowski, who has yet to retain an attorney, remains jailed ahead of a court appearance Thursday afternoon.
"Police are also aware of additional victims who have been contacted by [Laskowski] about recording pornographic videos together," the charges read.
According to the criminal complaint:
The boy told police that Laskowski was his sixth-grade teacher, coached his middle school football team while in seventh and eighth grades and he considered him to be a father figure.
The two stayed in contact until the fall of 2017, when his mother determined her son was at Laskowski's home and drinking alcohol.
In June 2018, Laskowski reconnected with the boy on Snapchat, and they resumed meeting at the former teacher's home.
At one point, Laskowski told the boy they could make $250,000 and split it if they made a pornographic video. Laskowski recorded himself performing oral sex on the boy, and they watched video together.
The supposed sale didn't go through, Laskowski explained to the boy, because there was music in the background. He then persuaded the boy, around the time of his 16th birthday, to repeat the act and record it. But again, Laskowski said, the bogus deal failed to materialize.
This month, Laskowski proposed making yet a third video. This time, the boy and his mother contacted police. They went to the Maple Grove Police Department, where the boy and Laskowski spoke on Snapchat about the previous assaults and arranging a time to make a third sexually explicit video.
Police have seized electronic devices from Laskowski, and results of their examination are pending.
Laskowski resigned in November 2017 under fire from the School District, where he taught social studies at Columbia Academy.
The findings of a state licensing board investigation, which led to his license later being revoked, cited a district inquiry into Laskowski's questionable text messaging with a former student and having the student at his home for a full day.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
