Bob CollinsWhen Tim Scannell was shot in the Cook County courthouse in Grand Marais a year ago this month, it led to a revelation, as reported by MPR’s Dan Kraker: In Grand Marais, there’s an odd pattern in the town of older men pursuing high school-aged girls. Or being pursued by high-school aged girls.
“We started hearing about these 20-, 25-, 30-year-old men who were constantly at football games, around the teenage girls, and who somehow believed that it was a great thing to be sleeping with virgins,” one mother said. “And I was aghast.”
The man who shot Scannell, Daniel Schlienz, 42, had just been found guilty of having sex with a 15-year-old girl several years earlier, when he was in his mid-30s. Scannell was the prosecutor.
Now, Scannell is embroiled in a controversy surrounding a young girl. The parents of a 17-year-old have obtained a restraining order against him, according to the Associated Press.
The girl’s parents say Scannell was a longtime family friend who told them this summer that he had fallen in love with the teen.
Their petition accuses him of continuing to contact the girl after promising not to.
The AP says Mr. Scannell, 46, did not return a phone call for comment.
