Sex offender Seibel found guilty of violating release conditions

Seibel, 76, convicted in 2013 of sexually abusing Shattuck-St. Mary’s students and possessing child pornography, was released from jail earlier this week after Minnesota DOC officials found he violated the conditions of release.

Siebel was released from prison Dec. 28, 2015, but because his sentence doesn’t expire until Dec. 27, 2020, he’s still under the DOC’s supervision. That means his hearing wasn’t open to the public.

Department of Corrections spokesperson Sarah Fitzgerald said that Seibel was arrested on a warrant March 6 for allegedly failing to comply with conditions regarding sex offender programming, internet use and electronic monitoring.

“After serving time in jail, he was restructured and returned to supervision in the community. His agent will continue to hold him accountable using community resources,” she wrote in an email to the Daily News. Restructuring can include modifying the conditions of release.

Seibel is required to register as a predatory offender, but the risk that he’ll reoffend isn’t high enough to place him on the public registry. Only offenders deemed highly likely to reoffend are on the public registry, though all offenders are monitored by local law enforcement.

Seibel was charged in October 2012 with 15 counts of sexual abuse that occurred between 1999 and 2003, and one count each of possession of child pornography and using minors in a sexual performance. He pleaded guilty the following July to six counts of criminal sexual conduct and the child pornography charge, and was sentenced to 52 months in prison in October 2013.

He left the school in 2003 after it found pornography on his work computer, but not before signing a confidential separation agreement with the school in exchange for $12,500. The school never reported Seibel to authorities, and school leaders have said they didn’t feel that the issues they found with Seibel warranted it.

An internal investigation at SSM conducted in 2001 was unable to substantiate claims that Seibel had sexually abused its students.