Wayzata schools employee charged with indecent exposure

A Wayzata Public Schools employee is due in court Thursday to face charges that he exposed himself to children at an elementary school.

Hennepin County prosecutors have charged 35-year-old Matthew Gordon Bowers of Hopkins with four gross misdemeanor counts of criminal sexual conduct and indecent exposure.

According to the complaint, three girls, ages 7 and 8, reported that they'd seen Bowers' genitals while he was pushing them on a large swing March 19 at Gleason Lake Elementary School in Plymouth. Bowers allegedly got the girls to unzip his pajamas, which he was wearing for pajama day.

Two of the girls also reported that Bowers had exposed himself in an earlier incident in the school library.

In a letter to parents, Wayzata Superintendent Chace Anderson says Bowers has worked as a paraprofessional at the school since 2006 and was put on leave immediately after the district received complaints about him. Anderson also says Bowers assisted with a summer program at Greenwood Elementary in 2016.