Burnsville man pleads guilty to kidnapping, assaulting Andover girls

A 23-year-old Burnsville man and former youth coach pleaded guilty Wednesday in Anoka County District Court to taking two 13-year-old Andover girls he'd met online to his Burnsville home and sexually assaulting them.

Casey Lee Chinn was charged in October. He pleaded guilty to two counts of kidnapping and two counts of criminal sexual assault, and is expected to serve about 11 years in prison.

Chinn met the girls through Omegle, a free online chat site, and picked them up in Andover, authorities say. Using clues gleaned from the girls' electronic devices, police tracked them to the Burnsville home.

Chinn was charged in October with six felonies — two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, two counts of kidnapping and two counts of solicitation of a child to engage in sexual conduct.

Anoka County Attorney Tony Palumbo said the plea bargain was best for both parties. Entering trial would have "impacted the victims … they are obviously very young girls … it would have exacted certain costs on them," Palumbo added.

The victims' family, who were present Wednesday, were involved in discussions leading up to the plea agreement, he said.

In court, the two victims' families sat together in one row toward the back as Chinn confessed to the events leading up to police finding the two girls "huddled behind a couch in [his parents'] basement, crying and upset."

Chinn, who paused during the plea hearing to wipe away tears, also said he started seeing a psychiatrist more than a year-and-a-half ago.

Marsh Halberg, Chinn's attorney, said Chinn has been diagnosed with Moyamoya disease, a rare blood-vessel disorder that causes reduced blood flow to the brain.

Halberg said the disease does not mean Chinn is "mentally impaired or insane … but he has had issues because of Moyamoya disease that affected him."

According to the charging documents, the girls had been communicating with Chinn via text and other social media apps for about a month in "sexually explicit" chats.

Chinn had told police he believed the girls were unhappy and agreed to pick them up near their homes. He drove them around and eventually to his home in Burnsville.

During Wednesday's hearing, Chinn confessed that he dropped the girls off at the end of the block and gave them instructions on how to get to his basement door. Just after that, he was talking to his parents, who also live in the home.

Chinn knew the girls' ages and acknowledged picking them up, the documents say.

When officers went to the Burnsville residence, he initially denied that the girls were there, but eventually acknowledged that they were. When officers searched the residence, they found the two behind the couch.

According to the charges, Chinn engaged in sexual activity with both girls.

He has worked at several metro-area schools and organizations as a coach, according to authorities.

Officials at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Minneapolis placed Chinn on leave from the part-time job as volleyball coach he began in September.

Chinn also worked as a volunteer junior varsity baseball coach at East Ridge High School in Woodbury in 2014.

Sentencing is scheduled for April 1.

Karen Zamora • 612-673-4647

Twitter: @KarenAnelZamora