Renville, Minnesota, man to serve 72 months in prison for sexually abusing juvenile

Dale Morin, West Central Tribune, Willmar, Minn.
·2 min read
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Jan. 18—OLIVIA

— A Renville man, formerly of Sacred Heart, who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a juvenile female, was sentenced to 72 months in prison for second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Anthony James Negen, 74, pleaded guilty to the charge Sept. 16. As part of a plea agreement, a second count of criminal sexual conduct was dismissed.

Judge Laurence Stratton also ordered at sentencing Nov. 21 in Renville County District Court that Negen must register as a predatory offender and he will be on conditional release for the rest of his life after leaving prison.

Under Minnesota law, offenders are required to serve at least two-thirds of a sentence in custody and may be allowed to serve the remaining time on supervised release. Negen's expected release date from the Minnesota Correctional Facility in St. Cloud is Dec. 14, 2026, according to the state Department of Corrections website.

The sentence is a downward departure, meaning less time than specified in sentencing guidelines. Among the reasons listed in the departure report for the mitigated sentence are the offender showing remorse or accepting responsibility, agreement of the prosecutor and the juvenile and her family to the recommended sentence and to prevent traumatizing the juvenile witness at trial.

According to an emailed news release from Renville County Attorney Kelsie Kingstrom, the juvenile explained on the record at sentencing how Negen's actions affected herself and her family, and how it will impact them in the future.

According to the criminal complaint, the girl disclosed incidents of sexual abuse during a forensic interview in September 2021. She reported that the abuse had been occurring for around eight years from 2013 to 2021. Her first memory of the abuse was when she was between the ages of 5 and 8 years old.

The girl said a lot of the abuse took place in rural Sacred Heart. She said as she got older Negen would touch her more often and kiss her with his tongue.

Negen had previously been convicted for second-degree criminal sexual conduct in 1984, according to Kingstrom's news release.

In her news release, Kingstrom wrote that a majority of criminal sexual conduct cases involve abuse of a child and such abuse is regularly perpetrated by a family member or close family friend.

"I encourage parents to listen to your children and take them seriously if they report any type of abuse," she said. "In my experience, false reporting by a child of a crime of this nature is extremely rare."