Charges: Manager of Redwood Falls grocery store accused of preying on teen workers

REDWOOD FALLS, MINN. – The former manager of a small-town grocery store here sexually assaulted a teenage cashier and admitted to relationships with two other underage employees, according to a criminal complaint amended Tuesday.

Kyle Brady Shelton, 46, of Redwood Falls faces four felony charges, including two counts for someone in a position of authority having sexual contact with a woman younger than 18, and two counts related to receiving nude images from a minor.

Shelton was a manager at the Market, a grocery store formerly known as Tersteeg’s, where generations of teens in Redwood Falls have worked over the summer and after school.

Darin Hill, the owner of My Market Stores, the Colorado-based company that owns the store, in a statement Tuesday said Shelton is no longer employed by his company. Hill referred further questions to the police.

According to the charges:

Police arrested Shelton on Aug. 22 after receiving word that he had been exchanging explicit messages with a teenage cashier.

The victim told police that Shelton, her supervisor since she started working at the Market as a 14-year-old in 2022, had sexually assaulted her inside his office on the second floor of the store. Shelton had texted the victim about work-related topics before befriending her by talking like a “teenager,” the criminal complaint said.

By June of this year, the victim said the conversations with her manager had turned sexual, and that Shelton had told her that he loved her. He also coerced her by saying she was “all talk” and that he had had other relationships with young employees in the past, the victim said.

Shelton began asking for nude photos of her via Snapchat, and on one occasion he sent back an explicit photo of himself, the victim said. He would call her to his office at the Market, shut the door and touch her body, the victim told police. The assaults occurred three to five times in the office, the victim said.

After his arrest, Shelton admitted to receiving nude images from the victim and engaging in sexual contact three times with her in his office, police said.

He also said he had sexual relationships with two other juvenile employees, according to the amended complaint.

Shelton posted bail and is not currently in custody, the Redwood County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.