Hill-Murray School's head football coach was arrested in a prostitution sting in Fridley this week.
Mark Steven Mauer, 54, was among 19 men arrested and charged with misdemeanor soliciting prostitution, police said.
Mauer, of Woodbury, is in his first year of coaching at Hill-Murray, a private Catholic prep school in Maplewood. He is the second high-profile Hill-Murray staff member to be accused of a sex-related crime in recent years.
Mauer also was a St. Paul City Council member for a brief time in the late 1990s.
A call to Mauer was not immediately returned Friday, Feb. 22. He has no previous criminal record, according to Minnesota data.
In a statement Friday, Hill-Murray President Susan Paul called Mauer's arrest
"distressing."Fridley police said four women also were arrested in the sting Monday and Tuesday at the LivInn Suites on the north side of the Anoka County suburb.
The women were cited for alleged prostitution.
The sting was staged by undercover officers on online sites such as Backpage.com. Fridley police say they conduct about two such stings a year and have increased such efforts as the sex trade has evolved on the Internet.
According to the police report, Mauer arrived at the hotel about 7:30 p.m. and met with a female undercover officer. Mauer verbally agreed to pay the woman $100 for a half-hour of "full service," the report said.
Mauer then told the woman he left his money in the car
and had to go get it, police said. He was arrested when he left the room.When questioned, Mauer reportedly told police he was just "messing around" and didn't intend to return to the room.
According to the report, Mauer said "he has done this a couple times in the past, where he calls women and then leaves without doing anything."
Police said he had with him $100 and a bottle of unmarked pills that Mauer said were Viagra, a prescription drug used to treat impotence.
Mauer, a cousin of Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer, is a former St. Paul Harding High School and University of Nebraska quarterback who played in the 1982 Orange Bowl.
Mauer previously was the head coach at Concordia University of St. Paul. He stepped down after the 2010 season to pursue business interests, ending seven years at the school.
He also had previously coached at Wisconsin, New Mexico State, Ball State and North Dakota State.
Mauer worked at the family business, Mauer Chevrolet in Inver Grove Heights, for a year before Hill-Murray athletics director Bill Lechner called him with a job offer.
Mauer accepted the job in May 2012 -- his first high school coaching position.
In 1997, Mauer was appointed to the St. Paul City Council to
Feb. 2013 courtesy photo of Mark Steven Mauer, 54, of Woodbury. Mauer, Hill-Murray's head football coach, was arrested for soliciting prostitution in Fridley on Feb. 19, 2013. Photo courtesy of the Anoka County Sheriff's Department.
fill a vacancy when his former boss, 7th Ward council member Dino Guerin, was elected to the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners with one year of his third council term remaining. Mauer had been Guerin's aide for five years.After four weeks as a council member, Mauer resigned to become an assistant head football coach at North Dakota State University.
In 2010, Hill-Murray's then-president Joseph Peschges was arrested after a sting at Crosby Farm Regional Park, off Shepard Road in St. Paul, during which a male undercover officer reported that Peschges touched him in the groin area, over his clothing.
Peschges, who was relieved of his duties at Hill-Murray, was cited with misdemeanor indecent conduct. He was placed on probation for a year. In 2011, after meeting conditions of probation, the charge was dismissed.
Lechner told the Pioneer Press on Friday that he had little information about the allegations against Mauer and deferred to Hill-Murray's administration on the matter.
In her statement, Paul, the school president, said:
"I want to share with you some distressing news regarding our school and make you aware of an alleged incident involving Hill-Murray staff member and head football coach, Mark Mauer, that is being reported in the press.
"I want to be clear that this incident is not related in any way to Hill-Murray, our students or Mr. Mauer's work responsibilities. Nor will this incident affect the high quality education that our families expect at Hill-Murray School. We ask for your prayers for all members of the Hill-Murray School community."
Elizabeth Mohr can be reached at 651-228-5162. Follow her at twitter.com/LizMohr.
roman numerals superbowl halftime madonna madonna papa johns guacamole recipe ufc 143 results
No comments:
Post a Comment