Ramsey man pleads guilty to sexual assault of girl, 2

A Ramsey man pleaded guilty Monday to the first-degree sexual assault of a 2-year-old girl in her Anoka home in March.

Andrew J. Cordie, 20, is expected to receive more than 12 years in prison when he is sentenced in December. A second charge of criminal sexual misconduct was dropped.

"I am just glad he is going to prison," the girl's mother said after the hearing in Anoka County District Court. She wasn't home during the assault.

The attack happened the evening of March 10 after Cordie had been talking on the phone to his former girlfriend, who was baby-sitting for the child and her twin sister. The twin sister wasn't molested.

According to the complaint, Cordie and baby-sitter Heather Ann Peterson, 20, spent hours text-messaging that day. Cordie's messages eventually became sexually graphic. Cordie messaged that he wanted to have sex with the babysitter, the 2-year-old twin girls and the girls' mother, charges said.

Peterson said she then called police, who said later said they didn't respond because no crime had been committed. Peterson called police again after Cordie arrived and she saw Cordie use his finger to sexually assault the girl on a bed. When police confronted Cordie in a bedroom, he said he was tickling the girl.

Peterson was later charged with soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct and faces trial next month. She said she was trying to get Cordie arrested.

The victim's mother, 25, said a therapist has been visiting their home and "my daughter is just now getting back to her old self. ... Now she's more social like she used to be."

JIM ADAMS