Minnesota youth leader charged with swimming naked with young girls

DULUTH — A Finland, Minn., man spotted by a Lake County deputy swimming naked near a rural swim hole alongside two preteen girls has a letter from one of the girl’s mothers OK’ing his actions as part of his motion to dismiss the charges against him.

Andrew Albert Deyette, 41, was charged in June with two counts of indecent exposure and two counts of fifth-degree sexual conduct for the mid-June incident near Glen Avon Falls, south of Silver Bay in northeastern Minnesota. In a letter to the court, the mother of the younger girl says different families have different cultural beliefs and that in their family, nudity isn’t inherently sexual.

Deyette’s next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 16 in Lake County Court.

According to the charges: Deputy Jack Dietz was investigating a vehicle parked on private property near “no trespassing” signs when he saw Deyette swimming naked with the two girls, one who was topless and the other in a swimsuit. He was seen hugging the girls and tossing them into the air.

Deyette told the deputy that he didn’t see a problem with his actions and that the girls’ parents would be fine with it. One of the parents told Dietz that she didn’t consent to Deyette’s actions; the other submitted the letter to the court OK’ing the incident, describing Deyette as “a trusted family member” and that their family doesn’t believe nudity to be inherently sexual.

“The event that harmed [their daughter] was not the above, it was being removed from this safe situation, forced into the back of a police vehicle, watching her trusted family member be arrested, being fraught with concern about his dogs (who are also family members), and then questioned about the incident by Deputy Sheriff Dietz without her parents present,” according to the letter, filed among court documents.

Deyette worked with children through the Friends of Finland, a community nonprofit organization that runs events out of the Clair Nelson Community Center. In a public letter last week, the group said the accusations are being taken seriously and will be investigated and that its director has been placed on administrative leave to “preserve the integrity of the investigation and its outcome.”