A volunteer at a Lutheran church and school with a cognitive delay and an extensive history of sexual assault allegations has been charged for assaulting four children under the age of 6.

Joshua Alirio Seeman, 50, of St. Paul, was charged last week with two counts each of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

On April 6, police took a report of sexual abuse by Seeman to a 5-year-old boy, identified as V1 in the criminal complaint.

The next day, law enforcement took three more reports of sexual abuse to a 6-, 5-, and 4-year-old by Seeman, a volunteer at King Of Kings Lutheran Church in Roseville, the complaint states.

V1’s parents told police that after they picked him up from Sunday School on April 6, he complained about his body hurting. Court documents say that when V1 was asked to explain, he said that Seeman went into the bathroom with him and sexually assaulted him.

The parents of V1 also told law enforcement that since about two weeks before the initial report, Seeman began messaging and calling them, offering to watch the victim and their siblings.

V1 told his parents that Seeman had assaulted him three to four times in the past, according to the complaint.

Officials say V1’s parents approached other members of the church about Seeman’s alleged behavior. The second victim, a 6-year-old boy identified in the complaint as V2, told his parents Seeman has been sexually assaulting him “this year” while he’s been in kindergarten.

V2’s parents also said Seeman has been reaching out to them to offer to babysit her children and take them on outings, the complaint stated.

The third victim, a 5-year-old girl identified as V3 in the complaint, told her parent that Seeman had brought her and another 5-year-old girl into the bathroom and watched them use the toilet. Court records say V3 also said Seeman had sexually assaulted her in March.

The fourth victim, the 4-year-old brother of V3, identified as V4 in the complaint, told his parents that Seeman touched him inappropriately.

Court records show Seeman’s history of alleged sexual assault includes reports from 2001, 2006, 2014, 2015, and 2022, including allegations of behavior such as biting people, locking a woman in an apartment and “ignoring victims’ pleas to stop sexual behavior.”

Prosecution on all but one prior case has been declined, the complaint states, due to Seeman’s cognitive disability.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS went to King of Kings Lutheran Church and School to ask if Seemen had a background check. Over the phone, they declined to comment.

The Roseville church is a part of the Minnesota South District Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.

On their website, it says, “Each church must do their due diligence to ensure that workers and volunteers have passed any necessary background screening.”

“Any church or youth-serving organization, they really should have policies and procedures on how to handle it,” Marcia Milliken, Minnesota Children’s Alliance, said. “According to state statute, anybody who’s working in a youth serving organization or has direct contact with kids needs to have a background check.”

Milliken works to make the state safer for children through the Minnesota Children’s Alliance.

She said parents should be looking out for signs of potential abuse.

“Changes in behavior, eating, sleeping, changes with school like their performance goes downhill or unexplained injuries,” she said. “It’s important that they [children] know how to establish boundaries. It’s important that parents teach them the correct name for body parts, even their genitals, so that kids can communicate better about what’s happening to them.”

Seeman was previously deemed incompetent in the fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct case from 2022 in which he allegedly lured a vulnerable adult into a park bathroom and assaulted her, according to court records.

However, on April 9, without knowing about the newest charges, the state filed a notice to prosecute the case when Seeman is considered competent.