Man will avoid prison time for multiple sex crimes in Olmsted County
Apr. 10—ROCHESTER — A 33-year-old St. Paul man charged with multiple sex crimes will avoid prison time following a Monday, April 10, 2023, hearing in Olmsted County District Court.
Danio Jay Dorres pleaded guilty to felony soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct, fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct and indecent exposure in the presence of a minor, both gross misdemeanors, in three separate cases as part of a plea deal that dismissed a felony mail theft charge in a different case and a disorderly conduct and indecent conduct charge, both misdemeanors, in yet another case.
Dorres submitted a Norgaard plea, admitting that though he did not remember the circumstances of the offenses, there was sufficient evidence for a jury to find him guilty.
District Judge Lisa Hayne sentenced him to 365 days in jail for his gross misdemeanor charges and credited him with 271 days for time served, though Dorres won't have to serve any additional jail time on those charges due to good behavior.
In those cases, Dorres pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a nurse while receiving medical care at Mayo Clinic Hospital-Saint Marys on March 22, 2021, and to masturbating in front of a group of school children on July 1, 2021.
For his most serious charge, Dorres attempted to sexually assault an 11-year-old girl at the Silver Lake Landing in Rochester on Sept. 22, 2021. The girl told police that Dorres grabbed her hand and made a sexual comment to her. Two witnesses chased him off, with Dorres pulling a knife on one of the witnesses.
The girl is scared to leave her home or go to the park, he mother told the court Monday, adding that she's now fearful of everyone and often cries at night.
"The most important thing he took from her is her innocence," the mother said.
Senior attorney for the Olmsted County Attorney's Office Joseph Rosholt said in court that while Dorres is a threat to the public, state sentencing guidelines bar his office from recommending a prison sentence to the court without a motion for a sentencing departure.
"The law requires he get a chance," Rosholt said.
Hayne ordered Dorres serve an additional 60 days in jail for that felony offense but will allow him to be released into a sex offender treatment program once space becomes available.
She also ordered a stay of imposition in the case, meaning that if Dorres successfully completes his probation, his felony and gross misdemeanor charges will be reduced to a misdemeanors, though the court reserves the right to order him to prison if he violates his probation.
Hayne, citing Dorres' previous lack of follow through while on probation for other sex crime offenses in Minnesota, questioned whether he will be successful this time.
"I'm hoping that you show the court that I'm wrong," Hayne said in court.
Dorres will also have to register as a predatory offender, complete inpatient chemical dependency and sex offender treatment programs and is barred from contact with minors without approval during his five years of supervised probation.
