Pope County Man Charged With Distributing Child Pornography

(KNSI) – A Pope County man has been charged with five counts of distributing child pornography.

Police say they received a tip from the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children saying someone was “uploading and sharing a total of forty-two child pornographic images and videos.” The images were allegedly uploaded via a messaging app called KIK.

Investigators were led to 47-year-old Stephan Talmedge Gadbaw, Junior of Starbuck. A search warrant was executed on July 28th, and Gadbaw was arrested after officers say they discovered the images on Gadbaw’s phone. Gadbaw allegedly admitted to police no one had access to his cell phone but him and that he created the KIK account and the email address that went with it.

Gadbaw is being held on $50,000 unconditional bail, or $2,000 with conditions.

A statement from the Pope County Sheriff’s Office says, “Pope County Law Enforcement takes all tips of individuals wishing to exploit youth seriously and continues to work diligently to combat the grotesque nature of child pornography by using all resources available to hold accountable those responsible. Law enforcement encourages anyone with information on the exploitation of youth to report it to their local law enforcement agency.”

Also assisting in the investigation were the Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Starbuck Police Department, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and the West Central Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force.

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