A former driver accused of sexually assaulting a child with special needs has been found not guilty by a judge.
Charles Edward Glover, 55, was acquitted of the second-degree criminal sexual conduct charge following a court trial in front of a Ramsey County District Court judge late last month.
Glover, a former driver for a Twin Cities company that provides rides to children and the elderly, was charged after one of the boys he transported to and from day care reported to an adult that he had been molested by one of his drivers. Authorities later tied the accusation to Glover.
In specific detail, the boy, who was 5 at the time, said the driver took him to a park while driving him home sometime during the summer of 2015. There, he said Glover pulled down his pants and squeezed his genitals.
Ramsey County District Judge Gary Bastian ultimately determined the state failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt two critical components of the charge, namely that Glover intentionally touched the boy and that his actions were motivated by sexual intent, court records say.
In explaining his decision, Bastian wrote that another employee for the transportation company called by the state during the trial to demonstrate how the alleged victim would need to be buckled in and out of his car seat shed doubt on the allegations.
“As demonstrated by the State’s witness, (the touching) could have occurred while Mr. Glover was fastening or unfastening the seat belt of (the alleged victim’s) car seat … and if (the alleged victim) was moving around at all, there could have been inadvertent touching, or what could have felt like ‘squeezing,’ ” Bastian wrote.
Glover’s attorney, public defender Carole Finneran, could not be immediately reached for comment on the judge’s findings.