Charges Filed Against Man Accused of Harboring Missing Minnesota Teen
Pine City, MN (KROC-AM News)- A northern Minnesota man is facing charges after being accused of harboring a teenager who was reported missing earlier this year.
The BCA issued a statewide missing person alert for 14-year-old Desiray Kappes this past May. The Forest Lake Police Department said she was last seen leaving her home on a bike and was reported missing on May 19.
The criminal complaint, filed against 36-year-old Shawn Patrick Bellach of Dalbo, says investigators found messages exchanged between him and the missing girl. Investigators also learned that Bellach had been in a romantic relationship with the girl’s mother and had lived with the Kappes and her mother.
Law enforcement then executed a search warrant at Bellach’s residence in Dalbo, which is about 14 miles northwest of Cambridge, where they found a trailer that was attached to Kappes’s bike on the day she was last seen and learned of two news cell phones linked to an account Bellach’s name, the charges say. Investigators then tracked the phones to a rural property in Pine County.
Authorities executed a search warrant there and found Kappes hiding in a closet at the home. One of the property owners, who Bellach said he was close friends with, told law enforcement that Bellach brought Kappes to the property and set her up in a tent outside of the home, the complaint says.
She said Bellach told her Kappes was being abused by her parents and said she thought they were doing a good thing by allowing the teenage girl to stay on their property, according to the charges. Bellach told authorities that he had helped Kappes for the two months she was missing. He also admitted to lying to law enforcement about the young girl’s whereabouts.
Ballach was charged Tuesday with a felony count of depriving parental/custodial rights. His conditional bail was set at $20,000 and is due back in Pine County court on August 7.
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