….Timothy Wayne Columbus, 36, faces up to 30 years in prison for allegedly sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl in 2015, court records show. He was released from a Minneapolis jail in early July on $75,000 bail, according to jail records.
One day after his release, Columbus signed a document asking the court to return any refunded bail to the MFF, indicating that the fund played a role in securing his release from jail, a court document obtained by the DCNF shows.
Minnesota prosecutors provided graphic details of Columbus’s alleged sexual assault of the eight-year-old girl in her mother’s home, records reviewed by the DCNF show.
“Victim stated ‘Tim’ laid her on the couch and held her down as he unbuckled his pants and pulled down her pants. Victim stated he then ‘put his thing inside me,’” the statement of probable cause read.
“Victim stated ‘Tim’ told her not to tell anyone and continued to penetrate her,” the statement added.
Columbus was considered a friend of the victim’s family but had abruptly stopped visiting the family around the time of the alleged assault, the statement said. The girl did not tell anyone about what happened until years later, according to the statement.
Columbus confirmed to police prior to his arrest that he knew the victim, but he denied that he abused the girl and said she “always really liked him,” the statement read.
Columbus was a registered predatory offender for a separate incident prior to his arrest in June, according to the statement. A registered sex offender also received support from the MFF earlier in the summer.
Fox9 reported in August that the group paid $350,000 in cash to release twice-convicted rapist Christopher Boswell from jail. Boswell currently faces charges of kidnapping and sexual assault, according to the outlet.…