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A security guard at a sex offender treatment facility has been accused of having a sexual relationship with a patient.

Claudia Kogo, 57, of Mankato, was charged last week with felony counts of criminal sexual conduct, according to ABC 5 Eyewitness News.

Citing court documents, the news station reported a patient who was committed as a sexually dangerous person to the Minnesota Sex Offender Treatment Program in St. Peter, told authorities he had sex with Kogo over two dozen times.

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The patient claimed that the relationship began with flirting and then progressed to sex, according to court documents.

However, Mankato Free Press reported the security guard denied she had sex with the patient, noting she only kissed and groped with the man.

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A St. Peter police detective who listened to recordings of phone calls between Kogo and the patient said many of the calls included conversations about their sexual activities, according to court documents.

“Sexual relationships between staff and patients or clients at DHS treatment facilities are unacceptable under any circumstances,” Department of Human Services Deputy Commissioner Chuck Johnson said in a statement. “We immediately investigate all such allegations, which can result in discipline or termination of the staff person.”

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According to ABC 5 Eyewitness News, the state’s sex offender program confines sex offenders who have finished their prison sentences in secure treatment facilities in St. Peter and Moose Lake.

Kogo is no longer an employee at the treatment centre, according to a Minnesota Department of Human Services spokesman.

–with a file from the Associated Press