Attorney representing ex-Anoka teacher charged with sexually assaulting students seeks accuser's therapy notes

The attorney representing a former Anoka middle school theater teacher charged with sexually abusing five male minors over the course of a decade is requesting access to patient-protected therapy notes in attempts to challenge one accuser's claims that he was sexually assaulted by the teacher as a teenager.

Before Jefferson Fietek's pretrial hearing next month in Anoka County, Judge Kristin Larson was critical Wednesday of attorney Jack Rice's request to access private client-patient information without facts such as who the therapist is, where they work and whether the notes contain information relevant to the case.

Fietek, 47, faces 10 felony criminal sexual conduct charges filed last summer after victims came forward and he lost his job at Boston's Emerson College when allegations surfaced. The victims are Fietek's former students and participants in a theater nonprofit he co-founded, Young Artists Initiative, headquartered in St. Paul's First Lutheran Church.

Fietek became a vocal LGBTQ advocate in Anoka who once ran for the Minnesota House and rose to national prominence when the Anoka-Hennepin School District was under a federal probe between 2010 and 2012 following a suicide contagion of mostly LGBTQ students. Throughout his tenure with the district from 2005 until 2019, three undisclosed complaints were filed against Fietek. The Star Tribune found that at least one parent and Fietek's sister reported concerns about him spending time outside of school with young boys.

Allegations in the case span a decade from 2009 up until 2019 and victims claim abuse took place in the school theater department and his former Coon Rapids home. All victims were minors at the time of the alleged abuse. Some are now in their mid-20s; one is still in high school.

Larson approved a motion in May filed by Rice to sever all cases into five separate trials that will likely span years if not settled outside of court. She will soon make a ruling on Rice's motion Wednesday to potentially allow an in-chambers review of Victim A's therapy notes.

"We're pleased that the court decided to sever each case and we will fight each case as it comes before us," Rice said in an interview this week.

Victim A has publicly come forward to the Star Tribune as Zander Danielson Sellie, 26, who was 14 at the time of the alleged abuse in 2009. Sellie, who uses they/them pronouns, has publicly testified in support of closing mandatory reporter loopholes that they say allowed their abuse to go unreported by adults who were aware of the allegations a decade ago.

"This is another hoop that survivors have to jump through to be believed," Sellie said in an interview Thursday, referencing Rice's recent motion to see their therapy notes.

Rice claims that Sellie discussed messages exchanged with Fietek in 2020 with their therapist. The contents of the therapy notes are unclear, but if Larson agrees to an in-chambers review, she could issue a subpoena for the therapist to provide them.

"We can't know its contents because at least at this point it is sealed," Rice said in Wednesday's virtual hearing.

"Well, Mr. Rice, hold on. It's sealed because it's confidential and the state doesn't have it either," Larson said.

County prosecutor Beth Beaman said she is also unaware of the contents of the notes and said it appears Rice is "wanting information about a mental health diagnosis for impeachment evidence" of the victim.

On Tuesday, Larson denied Rice's motion to dismiss charges of Victim A. In the order, she wrote that Rice wanted the charges dismissed "because they were brought more than three years after Fietek told police that Victim A might make a claim of sexual abuse in 2009," which surpasses the statute of limitations. Come September, that statute is ending as legislators recently passed a public safety bill closing gaps in Minnesota's sexual assault laws.

According to a Nov. 28, 2009, report from St. Paul police, Fietek called 911 for police to check on Sellie who was allegedly threatening self-harm. The report states that the teenager told Fietek if police were called they would "make allegations of sex abuse." Sellie said after police left that they posted the allegations on Facebook, but Sellie deleted the post when Fietek told them to. Police did not investigate further and no other reports were made by Sellie to law enforcement until 2020.

A pretrial hearing is slated for Aug. 19 before Fietek goes to trial in October.

Kim Hyatt • 612-673-4751