Minneapolis Elementary School Teacher Charged with Possessing Child Sexual Abuse Material

A criminal lawsuit says that a Minneapolis elementary school teacher is being charged with 14 felonies after police found a phone with at least nine pictures of child sexual abuse on it.

On Friday, the 35-year-old guy was charged in Hennepin County court.

Police were called to Brackett Field Park on the 2700 block of 39th Avenue South on Wednesday afternoon because someone said the man was there to give someone “substantial quantities of child sexual abuse materials.”

Responding police officers talked to several people who work for a group whose goal is to find internet activities that involve asking minors to do sexual acts and spreading material about sexual abuse of children.

Charges say that the man was talking online with a 17-year-old member of the group who told the man that they were a 13-year-old boy. From March on, they had talks that were “overtly sexual in nature” and included sending each other sexual pictures of kids and adults.

The man told the 17-year-old pretending to be the boy that his “dream is to marry a younger pedo” and that he had more than 1,000 videos of child sexual abuse on what he called his “pedophone,” which took up 87 gigabytes.

Another member of the group, who said he was the boy’s father, also talked to the man online, the group told the cops. Court records show that the man agreed to meet the made-up father and son at the Minneapolis park during this chat. The man offered to share information about child sexual abuse on the phone call before the meeting.

Charges say that when the man got to the park, the group called the police.

Court papers say that when the man was stopped, police found a flash drive and a phone on him. There were 18,466 files on the phone.

A first look through 40 random files revealed pictures of young people sexually acting out, the criminal charge said.

The man is charged with one count of sending sexually explicit material to a child through electronic communication, one count of engaging in sexually explicit electronic communication with a child, one count of asking someone thought to be a child to engage in sexual conduct through electronic communication, two counts of giving out pornographic work, and nine counts of having pornographic work of a minor under 14.

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board says that the man was working as a teacher at Sullivan STEAM School when he was caught.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s predatory crimes tipline can be reached at 651-793-2465 by anyone who knows anything about this case.

Call the National Center for Missing or Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 or go to their website if you know of a kid who may have been exploited.

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