Indiana college president fired after sex crimes arrest

The president of Franklin College, a liberal arts school in Franklin, Indiana, was fired after the college learned he had been arrested in Wisconsin on suspicion of sex crimes involving children, the college said in a statement last week.

“Over the weekend, Franklin College terminated the employment of President Thomas J. Minar when we became aware of a deeply disturbing incident,” the statement said.

It said the Sturgeon Bay Police Department told the college by email that Minar was taken into custody this month in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, on suspicion of child sex crimes. The statement said that Minar had confirmed to college officials that he had been arrested after they found out.

The Door County district attorney in Sturgeon Bay, Colleen Nordin, said in an email Tuesday that a criminal complaint had not yet been filed, adding that the “anticipated charges include attempted child enticement and exposing a child to harmful materials.”

Minar’s lawyer, Brett Reetz, said that Minar had been in Sturgeon Bay taking care of his mother and that he had established an online relationship on the dating app Grindr with a person who said he was 19 years old. That person, according to Reetz, was actually an undercover officer from the Sturgeon Bay Police Department.

After the online discussions became sexual, Reetz said, the person with whom Minar had been communicating said that he was really 15, and Minar’s attitude about the relationship changed. The two agreed to meet for the first time at a McDonald’s, where Minar was arrested, he said.

“There was no intent to have sexual relations,” Reetz said. “There was a concern on Thomas’ part of the difficulties of coming out.”

“There is no question he is deeply humiliated and ashamed of the accusations,” he said, adding that Minar, 56, had been preparing to resign after the arrest, because he was “aware of what the implications were going to be for Franklin College.”

Lt. Clint Henry, of the Sturgeon Bay police, said the department had no comment on the case because it was an “active investigation.” The police also said the arrest report had not been made public for that reason.