East-central Minnesota teacher accused of sexual assault

MILACA, Minn. — An Isle physical education and health teacher has been accused of sexually assaulting a former student, as well as buying alcohol for other current and former students under the age of 21.

Travis McKenzie Turgeon, 41, was charged Aug. 3 in Mille Lacs County District Court with felony fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct, gross misdemeanor fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct and gross misdemeanor purchasing or furnishing alcohol to someone under 21 years of age.

According to an Aug. 8 story in the Mille Lacs Messenger, Turgeon was still listed on the Isle High School website as the physical education and health teacher.

The Messenger story said district administration reported that Turgeon was on administrative leave as the district evaluated staffing and programming.

As of Monday, Aug. 21, Turgeon was no longer listed among the Isle High School teaching staff. A message left Monday for Superintendent Dean Kapsner was not returned.

Turgeon is scheduled to make his first court appearance at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 26.

According to the criminal complaint:

On June 1, Isle police officers received information from a witness and the victim about a sexual assault that allegedly happened Oct. 8, 2022, in Isle.

According to the victim, when she was 18, she served as a designated driver for a group of adults, including Turgeon, who were visiting several bars in the Isle-Wahkon area. During that time, the victim said Turgeon inappropriately touched her in an attempt to get her to sit in his lap, but she refused.

Later that night, while the victim was taking Turgeon and another individual to Turgeon’s home, Turgeon started making obscene sexual comments, which the victim recorded on her phone, the complaint said.

At Turgeon’s home, the other individual went to sleep on a couch, and Turgeon allegedly sexually assaulted the victim by kissing her and inappropriately touching her. When the victim did not reciprocate, Turgeon told her to go home and to not tell anyone.

The victim told another person what happened, who in turn told Turgeon.

Turgeon then messaged the victim, saying: “I have not forgotten about what happened and am still very frustrated that you would tell me you would never tell anyone but immediately tell somebody, how can I trust you at this point? And you did it at a time that you knew I was struggling and in pain,” according to the complaint.

The victim told police there were several times immediately after her senior year when Turgeon made flirtatious or sexual comments toward her.

In the course of the investigation, Isle police also became aware of several current and former high school students who reported Turgeon provided them with alcohol while they were under the age of 21.

Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.