A 20-year-old man is facing charges in Ramsey County after a bicyclist who was pulling his young daughter in a trailer through a Maplewood park reported that a stranger approached him, made sexual comments, and touched him without his consent. Nathan Cheening Lee now faces one gross misdemeanor count of fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct and one misdemeanor count of indecent exposure tied to a string of reported incidents across three Ramsey County cities over three days in early August.
According to the criminal complaint, the encounter began on Aug. 3 at Harvest Park in Maplewood, a 25-acre municipal park at 2561 Barclay Street known for its athletic fields and connections to the Bruce Vento Regional Trail, per the City of Maplewood. As reported by Limitless Media News, an unknown man approached the bicyclist, asked whether he could touch him, and then allegedly did so without consent while making comments of a sexual nature. The bicyclist reportedly tried to move away before leaving the park, according to the probable cause statement.
A Second Park, A Similar Description
Officers were also called to nearby Keller Park in Maplewood on Aug. 3 following a separate report. Keller Regional Park is run by Ramsey County Parks and Recreation as part of the 750-acre Phalen-Keller Regional Park system along Maplewood Drive and Keller Parkway. The complaint describes the individual reported there as a heavyset Asian male wearing black clothing, the same general description police say later matched Lee.
The following day, Aug. 4, similar public behavior was reported at Lake Phalen Park in St. Paul, according to a reference in the complaint. Lake Phalen sits within a regional park that drew more than 1.3 million visits in 2019 across its 700-plus acres, making it one of the most heavily trafficked green spaces in the Twin Cities metro, and it connects directly to Keller Regional Park via shared trails and waterways.
Target Encounter Leads to Arrest
Lee was arrested following an Aug. 5 incident at a Target store in North St. Paul, an independent suburban city that borders Maplewood to the east. Similar behavior was reported at that store the same day, according to the complaint. Police say they were able to connect the North St. Paul report to the earlier Maplewood park complaints because suburban Ramsey County agencies share regional dispatch and records databases that let departments track matching suspect descriptions across city lines.
The complaint alleges that phone location information placed Lee's device at both Harvest Park and Keller Park around the times of the reported incidents there. After being advised of his constitutional rights, Lee spoke with police. He allegedly acknowledged engaging in inappropriate behavior inside the Target store, but according to the complaint, he denied recently being at the parks and denied touching the bicyclist.
Identification Falls Short of Certainty
The bicyclist told investigators that Lee resembled the person who allegedly touched him, but he recalled a difference in the person's hair, according to the complaint, and he did not positively identify anyone in a photo lineup. That gap between a partial resemblance and a confirmed identification leaves an open question in the case even as prosecutors move forward with charges based on the phone location data and the matching physical description.
What the Charges Carry
The fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct charge, which under Minnesota Statute § 609.3451 covers nonconsensual sexual contact, carries a maximum possible sentence of 364 days in jail and a $3,000 fine, according to the Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. The indecent exposure charge, a misdemeanor under Minnesota Statute § 617.23, carries a maximum of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine for a first offense. Because both charges are non-felony offenses, the case will proceed through Ramsey County District Court's gross misdemeanor channels, and a conviction would not automatically trigger predatory offender registration absent specific aggravating factors, such as an offense involving a minor, according to attorneys at Lundgren & Johnson.
Criminal charges remain allegations, and Lee is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. The case underscores the layered nature of the investigation, which leaned on shared phone location data and a general physical description rather than a confirmed lineup identification, a tension that is likely to shape how the case unfolds in Ramsey County District Court.
