Minnesota trooper faces new counts in child sex abuse image case
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A Minnesota state trooper charged in early May with producing videos depicting the sexual abuse of a child is facing additional counts after a federal grand jury reviewed the case.
Prosecutors initially charged Trooper Jeremy F. Plonski with a single count of producing child pornography. A grand jury added an additional production count plus two counts of distributing the material.
According to the indictment, Plonski in April 2023 “repeatedly and personally” sexually abused an infant to whom he had access. Prosecutors allege that Plonski wore his trooper uniform and sidearm while recording the videos.
Plonski, 29, faces a mandatory minimum 15-year prison sentence if he’s convicted.
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Plonski, of Shakopee, Minn., is on leave from the patrol. He has yet to enter a plea. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright on Tuesday ordered that Plonski remain jailed as the case moves forward.
The Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office has released few details from the investigation, but the indictment says that one of the videos that Plonski allegedly produced was just over two minutes long and the other ran nearly three-and-a-half minutes.
Prosecutors in Scott County, who separately charged Plonski with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, say that the investigation began April 30 when FBI agents in Houston analyzed a mobile phone belonging to an unnamed person.
According to the state-level complaint, the FBI recovered “several videos” of Plonski “sexually assaulting an identified female infant.”
During an interview with Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Special Agent Jim Blatzheim and FBI agents, Plonski allegedly admitted that he’d engaged in a relationship with a user on the Kik messaging app, who “instructed” him to send videos of the sexual assaults.
FBI and BCA agents searched Plonski’s house, and “recognized the inside of the home from the videos defendant produced,” according to the complaint.
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