Prosecutors have agreed to dismiss a gross misdemeanor harassment charge they filed against the woman who had two lewd packages mailed to the St. Anthony-New Brighton schools superintendent.
Alicia Ann Little, 30, of Minneapolis, was charged in May in Hennepin County District Court.
According to the criminal complaint, Little bought a large cardboard penis from an online company and had it delivered to Superintendent Renee Corneille’s office on Feb. 8. A month later, she mailed a bag of small cardboard penises with a vulgar note telling Superintendent Renee Corneille to “choke on” the contents.
The company promises its customers anonymity, but St. Anthony Police learned through its third-party shipper that Little had paid for the packages.
Little is a friend of Michael Shafer, a former choir teacher at St. Anthony Village High School whom Corneille fired in 2020.
Little appeared in court this week where she was granted a continuance for dismissal of the harassment charge. As long as she pays $300 for prosecution costs and commits no similar offenses over the next year, the case will be dropped.
“She recognized that what she did was immature and not well thought out and did seek professional counseling and write a letter of apology,” Steve Carlson, prosecutor for the city of St. Anthony, said in an interview. “Justice doesn’t necessarily always include jail time or a fine.”
Corneille said Thursday she doesn’t know how she feels about the resolution of the case.
“I am not out for revenge,” she said by email. “I hope Ms. Little understands the entire situation and learns that attacking another woman for trying keep children safe, is just not a way to be someone’s good friend.”
Corneille said she dismissed the first package she received as “a joke or maybe a dumb decision by a student.” But the second one, which contained the threatening letter, “concerned, scared and horrified” her co-workers.
“I have done a lot of reflecting on the past two years and the bottom line is, I’ve yet to do something wrong,” Corneille said in the letter to the judge. “I was simply taking the appropriate steps to ensure that the safety and well-being of our children remains our district’s top priority.”
Little’s attorney, Phil Villaume, could not be reached for comment.
STUDENT PETITION
Corneille fired Shafer in the wake of an online petition circulated by former students who complained about the way they were treated by numerous staff members.
She said in a letter to the court that she had heard from “hundreds of victims” and hired an investigator to ensure the allegations were taken seriously. What that investigator discovered “clearly called for administrative leaves” for both Shafer and an administrator, who resigned.
Shafer later was fired, but an arbitrator in August 2021 reduced his punishment to a one-week suspension, writing that he had done “no intentional harm” to students. Shafer had a record of angry, aggressive behavior with students, the arbitrator found, but claims of sexual misconduct amounted to unfounded “hearsay.”
Shafer returned to work last fall, but he wasn’t allowed to teach choir and now no longer works for the district.