Former Forest Lake shop teacher sentenced to a year in jail for sexual contact with students
Nick Ferraro
PUBLISHED: September 16, 2022 at 3:36 p.m. | UPDATED: September 17, 2022 at 10:56 p.m.
Categories:Crime & Public Safety, News, Uncategorized
A former Forest Lake middle school teacher convicted of sexually abusing two of his students was sentenced Friday to one year in jail followed by 25 years of supervised probation.
James Edward Carter, 58, of Forest Lake, was sentenced via Zoom by Washington County District Court Judge Richard Ilkka on one count each of second- and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct. Both felony charges relate to sexual contact with juveniles while being in a position of authority.

A jury convicted Carter of the charges on June 10. He was found not guilty on one additional count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, which alleged his older victim feared great bodily harm at the time of the sexual contact.

Carter, who taught industrial tech at Forest Lake Area Middle School, would employ former students to work on projects at his house in exchange for money, food and gifts, according to the November 2020 criminal complaint. Two boys, ages 16 and 17, told officials in August 2020 that Carter had touched them inappropriately on separate occasions over the previous two years after developing close friendships with them.

Friday’s ruling requires Carter to serve six months of his jail sentence in custody, with the opportunity to serve the remainder through alternative jail sentence programs.

Washington County prosecutors asked that Carter be given one year in jail, which was the maximum allowed under presumptive guidelines.

“There are absolutely no mitigating factors present here to warrant the defendant being sentenced to anything less than a year in jail,” Assistant County Attorney Keshini Ratnayake said in court Friday. “The factors the defense will no doubt argue about his career in teaching and role in the community are the strongest arguments against serving less than a year in a jail, as the defendant’s abuse of those positions of authority enabled him to sexually abuse these children.”

Carter’s attorney, Paul Engh, argued for probation only, telling the judge the label of being a convicted sex offender is a punishment that “never goes away.”

Carter’s sentence also includes a four-year prison term the judge stayed in lieu of 25 years of probation, with conditions that include the completion of a sex offender treatment program, and no contact with minors unless approved by the court, a probation officer and a therapist trained in the treatment of sex offenders.

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