Howard County man charged with sexually abusing Floyd County child multiple times enters Alford plea

CHARLES CITY — On the eve of his trial, a Howard County man charged with sexual abuse in Floyd County after alleged repeated assaults on a child he was babysitting entered an Alford plea this week to a lesser charge.

61-year-old Randy Nibaur of Elma was arrested in March on one count of second-degree sexual abuse, a Class B felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison. A criminal complaint states that Nibaur was babysitting a child under the age of 5 at his apartment in Charles City at times between November 2018 and August 2021. The complaint states that between those dates the child reported to a forensic interviewer with the Anoka County Minnesota Sheriff’s Department that Nibaur assaulted her on three different occasions.

Nibaur’s trial was scheduled to start on Tuesday, but court records show he filed a written Alford plea on Monday to one count of third-degree sexual abuse, a Class C felony punishable by up to ten years. With an Alford plea, a person does not admit guilt but acknowledges there is enough evidence for a likely conviction.

He’s scheduled to be sentenced on January 8th.