Montevideo, Minn., school district hired known groper, lawsuit alleges

The Montevideo, Minn., school district hired a known molester as a paraprofessional in an elementary school. He promptly groped an 8-year-old girl, a federal lawsuit alleges.

The suit, filed in Minnesota U.S. District Court, alleges that Brock DuMarce, 20, groped the buttocks of a Ramsey Elementary School student on at least a dozen occasions. The girl and her mother were forced to move to another city because of the molestation, the complaint says.

The school district knew that DuMarce had a history of sexual misconduct, according to court documents. Only months before he was hired, he had been judicially committed to a behavioral health hospital after a March 2019 incident in which he walked into the girls locker room at Montevideo High School, grabbed the buttocks of at least two girls and made humping motions toward others, according to the complaint.

After DuMarce — a former high school wrestler — fought with a teacher who tried to subdue him, police were called and used a Taser on DuMarce, according to the complaint.

He tried to grab a female staff member's vagina at the jail and tried to grab another staff member's vagina at the hospital, according to the complaint.

Despite knowledge of his history and complaints to the district administration from school staff members, the complaint says, DuMarce was hired as an elementary paraprofessional.

In a court filing, the district acknowledged that he worked in its schools for more than four months in late 2019 and early 2020.

In January 2020, DuMarce was charged with fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct, a gross misdemeanor, after the principal at Ramsey Elementary reported to police that a student said DuMarce had "squeezed [the student's] butt" on about a dozen occasions while giving the student a hug.

The child in that case is the same one involved in the federal civil case. In the criminal case, DuMarce received a stay of sentence on condition he complete three years of probation.

In a response to the lawsuit, which charges the district as well as DuMarce and several school officials, the district filed an answer denying the charges.

Superintendent Wade McKittrick, who was not with the district when the alleged incidents occurred, did not return a phone call seeking comment.

In a sentencing hearing transcript filed with DuMarce's criminal case, he admitted giving the child's buttocks "a light squeeze" during a hug.

Minneapolis attorney Lori Peterson is representing the 8-year-old girl's mother, who is the plaintiff in the case. The Star Tribune is not using the mother's name because doing so would reveal the identity of the alleged victim.

"The faculty and others made the administration aware of how upset and worried they were about having him work around elementary school kids," Peterson said. "In this case, you couldn't have received clearer red flags before they hired him, but they did it anyway."

"Nobody should have to worry about sending their kids to elementary school with somebody who is a groper," she said. "Nobody should have to wonder whether the staff at your child's elementary school is a molester."

John Reinan • 612-673-7402