Albert Lea man arrested on child solicitation charges sentenced to probation

(ABC 6 News) – An Albert Lea man who pleaded guilty to sexting a child received a 5-year probation sentence Thursday, April 11.

Stephen Brian Besco, 33, pleaded guilty to a charge of engaging in electronic communication relating to or describing sexual conduct with a child in exchange for the dismissal of a child solicitation charge and no further jail time.

Besco was also ordered to register as a predatory offender, attend sex offender treatment, and have no contact with people under 18, especially unsupervised contact with juvenile girls, unless probation and sex offender treatment providers approve the contact.

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(ABC 6 News) – An Albert Lea man appeared in Freeborn County Court Thursday on charges of sexting a child.

Stephen Brian Besco faces two felony charges of soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct through electronic communication, and engaging in electronic communication relating to or describing sexual conduct with a child.

In February 2023, Freeborn County law enforcement received a report from a woman in the area that a man she believed was Stephen Brian Besco was sending sexual messages to her 14-year-old child using Snapchat.

Besco, 32, allegedly sent explicit messages to the child, talked about liking “a young girl” and also messaged about getting in trouble if anyone found out about the messages, according to court documents.

According to court records, Freeborn County law enforcement determined that the date of birth, email address, and phone number associated with one of the Snapchat accounts used matched Besco’s information.

Besco allegedly told Freeborn County law enforcement that his account had been hacked.

His next court appearance had not been scheduled Thursday, June 6.