Richard Allen Paul, 57, of Cloquet, was charged Friday in Carlton County District Court with “interference with privacy.”

Sixth District Judge Robert Macaulay quadrupled the recommended jail time Wednesday when he sentenced a Cloquet man who was caught peeping at his neighbor’s juvenile daughters through her bedroom window.

Richard Allen Paul, 57, of Cloquet had pleaded guilty to “interference with privacy” and was sentenced Wednesday in State District Court in Carlton County in front of his victims, other neighbors and his own family.

The charge is a felony because the person whose privacy was violated was a minor.

B.J. Berg discovered Paul outside Berg’s home at 11:30 p.m. on June 14, 2011, wearing a black ski mask, tan shirt and jeans peering into a bedroom window. When Berg confronted him, Paul said something about trying to find his dogs. Berg told him, “Not at my daughter’s window, you’re not’’ and told him to get off his property.

Berg followed Paul to his home and called the police, who searched Paul’s home and found night vision goggles, a ski mask, clothing and a loaded handgun. Paul admitted to police that he had a firearm on his hip when he was outside Berg’s home.

That was nine months ago. Since then, Paul has completed a residential addiction treatment program at Hazelden and is undergoing follow-up treatment, counseling and attending Alcoholics Anonymous.

In his victim impact statement, Berg talked about the close-knit nature of their rural Cloquet neighborhood, and how Paul had built trust with his neighbors and their children over the last 12 years.

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