Chiropractor’s former minister convicted of criminal sexual conduct

ALEXANDRIA — A traveling minister who served in the Worthington area was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to second-degree criminal sexual conduct against a 10-year-old girl from the Alexandria area.

Timothy Knut Severud, 42, is a minister for a religious sect that technically has no name. Members refer to each other as Friends or Christians, but they are often referred to as “Two by Twos” because of their tradition of sending pairs of missionaries to evangelize. Their ministers have officially registered the group with various government agencies under the name “the Christian Conventions” in the U.S.

Severud was a co-minister in Worthington at the time of his arrest — part of the same religious group as former Worthington chiropractor Lonnie Haken, who was sentenced in early December for first- and second-degree criminal sexual conduct against two young girls.

Severud received a much longer sentence than Haken, who was sentenced to 12 months in the county jail followed by intensive in-patient sex offender treatment.

Severud was sentenced to 90 months in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, according to Douglas County Attorney Christopher Karpan. After Severud’s prison sentence is complete, there will be a confinement review to determine his level status, and he will have to consider whether to pursue civilly committing Severud as a predatory offender.

“Trust me,” Karpan said Monday, “he’s going to go down that path.”

Severud was charged just weeks after Haken, and both were in positions of authority over their victims. Haken’s two victims were both molested while they were in his care and at least one of the families were members of the church, while Severud’s victim was a child in his ministry, and he stayed with them occasionally while traveling.

According to the complaint, the victim’s parents came home to find Severud on top of their daughter in her bed. Both were fully clothed. When confronted, Severud blamed the child and her younger sister, stating they had been inappropriate with him on a number of occasions.

He admitted the contact with both children to authorities when questioned.

“Oddly enough, (Severud) said that he ‘let the girls have their way with him’ and left the impression that he gave in to the girls’ inappropriate behavior,” the complaint states. He also admitted he “fell for a 10-year-old girl.”