Felony sex charge against 35-year-old KAT driver dismissed

WILLMAR -- A criminal sexual conduct charge against a Willmar man has been dismissed because the man who reported having sex with him is not a vulnerable adult.

The third-degree felony charge against Patrick Shawn Dokken, 35, of Willmar, was dismissed Jan. 13 by the county attorney's office. County Attorney Boyd Beccue said that evidence from Dokken's defense attorney indicated the 18-year-old man involved was not vulnerable.

Dokken had been charged under a portion of the criminal sexual conduct statutes that charges a person with a third-degree count if "the actor knows or has reason to know that the complainant is mentally impaired, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless."

Dokken was charged in October after a Meeker County social worker reported that a client, an 18-year-old male identified as a vulnerable adult, had reported a sexual incident with the driver of a Kandiyohi Area Transit bus.

The men had met on a bus that Dokken was driving, chatted online, met and later engaged in a sex act.

Tiffany Collins, transit director for KAT, said that Dokken's status is "pending."

Collins had stated in October that Dokken was placed on unpaid leave of absence and that no further action would be taken until after the legal process was completed.