Burnsville school paraprofessional charged in child sex sting

Carver County prosecutors have charged 36-year-old Brian Stewart Gay, a paraprofessional at STEP Academy in Burnsville, after an undercover officer posing online as a 15-year-old girl says he solicited her for sex over nine days. According to the complaint, Gay discussed sexual acts in electronic messages and was arrested Thursday when he arrived at a prearranged Chanhassen meeting spot where he allegedly intended to have sexual contact. He faces three felony counts of soliciting a child or someone believed to be a child via electronic communication, plus four additional felony counts tied to sexually explicit electronic communications with a minor. Investigators say Gay himself told detectives he works as a paraprofessional at the Burnsville charter school, raising immediate questions about hiring, vetting and oversight of adults working around students. His first court appearance is set for April 10, and parents in the south metro are left waiting for answers from both law enforcement and the school about how the case is being handled and whether any students were at risk.