Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Grant Thomas Klennert, the former Hayfield High School principal accused of criminal sexual conduct going back to when he was a teen, has been sentenced to nearly 20 years of supervised probation.

Klennert, 39, was sentenced to 19 years of supervised probation Friday in Wabasha District Court and ordered to pay $1,500 annually for those 19 years to agreed upon charities.

Also part of the conditions is that Klennert is to undergo a psychological-sexual evaluation and is not to have any unsupervised contact with children under 16-years-old until a therapist gives approval.

He will also have to spend 42 days in the Wabasha County Jail.

Klennert was convicted on two felony counts of first degree criminal sexual conduct, and one count of second degree criminal sexual conduct after entering an Alford plea in January of this year.

An Alford plea is entered when the suspect maintains they are innocent, but also acknowledges that there is enough evidence to convict.

A second count of second degree criminal sexual conduct was dismissed.

Klennert is accused of sexually assaulting three victims between the years of 1997 and 2003.   

He was arrested in December of 2022 after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

In the court complaint, the first victim told Wabasha County detectives that he was “repeatedly and forcefully assaulted” by Klennert starting as early as second grade.