Hiroki Ito

A former Central Middle School paraprofessional has been sentenced to serve three years with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation after entering an Alford plea to offenses against three students.

Hiroki Ito, 28, Minot, appeared before district Judge Todd Cresap on Friday, April 17, having pleaded guilty on Oct. 6, 2025, to solicitation of a minor victim under 15 within 50 feet of a school and luring by computer, both Class B felonies, and one Class C felony count of promoting obscenity to minors.

Ito, who was employed at Central Middle School in Minot at the time, was charged in December 2024 after Minot Police investigated reports made by parents of one of the victims after sexual messages Ito exchanged with the teen were discovered.

According to the affidavits of probable cause filed in the case, Ito had been communicating with up to three children by text, phone calls, social media, meet-ups outside of school and held “virtual sleepovers” with the teens over video calls. Additionally, court documents stated Ito instructed the victims to change his name in their phones to disguise their communications from their parents.

The three juvenile victims, who were between 13-14 years old at the time of the improper communications, testified at the hearing, relating how the incident has affected their ability to trust other paraprofessionals and adult male authority figures.

“I keep my distance from them because I don’t want this happen again,” the victim identified as Jane Doe 2 said.

The three juveniles also testified that the incident has been a source of bullying and unwanted attention from their peers and their teachers now treat them like ‘victims’ rather than regular students.

Despite an appeal by Ito’s attorney Gagan Bains for his client to be sentenced to time served with a period of probation, Cresap ordered instead the recommended sentence from the state of a concurrent 10 years with all but three suspended for a period of 10 years of supervised probation. Ito was also ordered to register as a sex offender for 15 years and to have no contact with the victims or their families. Ito was given credit for 569 days already served and assessed $1,500 in court fines and fees.

Cresap said Ito’s actions had a “significant impact” on the victims and their families and refuted Ito minimizing his actions because nothing “physical” occurred.

“Generally if nothing physically occurred, that means law enforcement caught it, but that doesn’t mean something physical wasn’t going to occur,” Cresap said. “To the three Jane Does, move on as best as you can, know it will get better.”