Marshals Track Down Stearns County Sex Offender Who Skipped Treatment

(KNSI) – A convicted child sex offender from central Minnesota is back in custody after the U.S. Marshals Service tracked him to Texas while he faced a probation violation tied to his failure to complete court-ordered sex offender treatment.

Ricky Kounlabout was taken into custody Friday, June 12th, in the McKinney, Texas area on a Stearns County felony warrant for first-degree criminal sexual conduct. A Stearns County sheriff’s deputy assigned to the North Star Fugitive Task Force located Kounlabout. He is being held in Collin County, Texas, pending extradition back to Minnesota.

Kounlabout was convicted of assaulting a 12-year-old girl at a graduation party at a Sartell home in May of 2021. According to the criminal complaint, the girl reported the assault the following year and described the incident during a forensic interview at a child advocacy center. Investigators with the Sartell Police Department said Kounlabout acknowledged contact with the girl when he was questioned. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $40,000 fine.

At sentencing on August 12th, 2024, Kounlabout received a 12-year prison term that was stayed, sparing him from going to prison. The 25-year-old was instead placed on supervised probation for 30 years and ordered to serve a year in the Stearns County Jail in three staggered segments. Court records describe the sentence as a downward dispositional departure from Minnesota sentencing guidelines. His conditions required him to register as a predatory offender, complete sex offender treatment, and stay in Minnesota unless he received written court approval to leave.

In December of 2025, Kounlabout’s probation agent asked the court to revoke the stayed sentence, citing his failure to complete an approved sex offender treatment program.

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