Elk River man charged with abusing girls at daycare

An Elk River man is accused of sexually abusing two young girls at a home daycare last week and is now facing multiple felony charges in Sherburne County, according to a criminal complaint.^[1]

Prosecutors say Bryan Michael Bernardson, 50, was charged on Friday, Nov. 6, with two felony counts of attempted sexual contact with children under 14, a felony grooming-related charge, and a gross misdemeanor indecent exposure count stemming from an incident on Tuesday, Nov. 3, at a licensed daycare residence on 196th Lane NW in Elk River.^[1] The complaint alleges Bernardson was supervising the daycare while the provider was away, lured the girls with Skittles he said were in his pocket, exposed himself to them, and took a 6-year-old into a bathroom where the attempted abuse occurred.^[1] He was arrested, then released on $100,000 bond under supervision and other conditions, and is scheduled to make his next court appearance on Feb. 3, 2027.^[1]

According to the criminal complaint, the two girls disclosed that Bernardson told them to reach into his pocket for candy, during which he allegedly exposed himself, and that he later brought the 6-year-old into a bathroom and again exposed himself while attempting sexual contact.^[1] The daycare provider was not at home at the time but had left the children in Bernardson's care, and investigators say the home was properly licensed as a daycare operation.^[1] Court records show the grooming-related count alleges he used familiarity with the children and the promise of candy to gradually violate boundaries and facilitate the alleged abuse.^[1]

Child-protection advocates say allegations like those in the Elk River case highlight how grooming often relies on seemingly harmless rewards, secrecy, and a position of trust rather than overt force. Researchers and front-line workers have documented similar patterns in some of the worst child exploitation scandals, where adults in positions of authority or informal caregiving used gifts, attention, and gradual desensitization to normalize sexual behavior with children. In those wider scandals, including high-profile grooming cases in England that involved networks of men targeting vulnerable girls, investigations later found that many early disclosures were ignored or minimized by adults and institutions who misread the behavior as consent or "promiscuity" instead of abuse.

1. FOX 9