Man Gets 19 Years In Kidnapping, Sexual Assault Case
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) – A 48-year-old man was sentenced to more than 19 years in prison Friday in connection with the May kidnapping and sexual assault of an 7-year-old girl outside a St. Paul laundromat.
John Craig Heuer was arrested the day after the incident, which happened on the 1600 block of Rice Street. Heuer was arrested at his home after he was found hiding in his garage in Spring Lake Park. He was charged with kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct shortly after his arrest and pleaded guilty in late July.
According to a criminal complaint, an Amber Alert was issued on Sunday, May 1, after a girl was kidnapped from a laundromat near Rice Street and Larpenteur Avenue. Heuer later tried to tell authorities that he gave the child's mother money in exchange for sex, a claim that was later denied by the victim's family.
Heuer was also accused of touching the girl inappropriately. He was sentenced to 173 months (more than 14 years) on the criminal sexual conduct charge and 57 months (nearly five years) on the kidnapping charge.
