CLOQUET, Minn. The former head of behavioral health at Fargos MeritCare was sentenced to 120 days in jail on Wednesday after he was caught peeping here at the window of the juvenile daughter of his neighbor last summer. <\/p>\n
Richard Allen Paul, 57, of Cloquet, had pleaded guilty in December to a felony interference with privacy charge and was sentenced Wednesday in Carlton County District Court in front of his victims, other neighbors and his own family. The charge is a felony because the person whose privacy was violated was a minor. <\/p>\n
Paul, who was director of behavior services for Essentia Health System in Duluth before he was arrested and held a similar position at the predecessor to Sanford Health in Fargo from 1999 to 2002, apologized in the courtroom. <\/p>\n
Not a day goes by that I dont regret my actions, Paul said. Not a day goes by that I dont pray for (the vicitms family) that God gives them relief from the pain I gave to them. <\/p>\n
B.J. Berg discovered Paul outside Bergs home at 11:30 p.m. on June 14, 2011, wearing a black ski mask, tan shirt and jeans while peering into a bedroom window. When Berg confronted him, Paul said something about trying to find his dogs. <\/p>\n
Berg told him, Not at my daughters window, youre not, and told him to get off his property. <\/p>\n
Berg followed Paul to his home and called the police, who searched Pauls home and found night vision goggles, a ski mask, clothing and a loaded handgun. Paul admitted to police he had a firearm on his hip while outside Bergs home. <\/p>\n
In his statement in court, Berg talked about the close-knit nature of their rural Cloquet neighborhood 20 miles west of Duluth and how Paul built trust with his neighbors and their children over 12 years. <\/p>\n
This whole ordeal has been a sad lesson for our kids and family to learn that you may not be able to trust the people you have grown to respect, and that your home may not be the safe haven you thought it was, Berg told the court, adding that his children havent ventured down the road on their bikes to visit friends since then. Some of their childhood innocence has been lost and their perception of safety in our home has been diminished. <\/p>\n
Paul sat with his head down during most of Bergs statement. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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\nEx-head of behavioral science at MeritCare in Fargo gets 120 days for window peeping<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"