Albert Lea man pleads guilty to four counts of possessing child pornography in exchange for 6-year sentence recommendation

(ABC 6 News) – UPDATE: An Albert Lea man pleaded guilty to four of 15 child pornography charges in court Tuesday, March 5.

Gavin Wayne Thompson, 23, was accused last year of 15 counts of possession of child pornography–minor under 14 dating back to June of 2022, after the Fillmore County Sheriff’s Office reviewed data from his phone allegedly containing 561 videos and 139 photos featuring close to 1,000 separate victims ranging from less than a year in age to about 10 years old.

Thompson’s jury trial was scheduled to begin Tuesday.

According to his plea agreement, his defense and the prosecution agreed to dismiss the remaining 11 counts and recommend a sentence of 72 months, or about 6 years.

Thompson’s sentencing is scheduled for May 22.

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(ABC 6 News) – An Albert Lea man appeared in Freeborn County Court Tuesday on 15 child porn possession charges dating back to June of 2022.

Gavin Wayne Thompson was arrested Monday on a warrant, according to court records.

Freeborn County Court issued the arrest warrant late last week after charging Thompson with the 15 counts, referencing 17 different alleged child victims in Thompson’s criminal complaint.

According to court records filed Aug. 3, Freeborn County Law Enforcement received a tip from the MN BCA/Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) alleging that someone with the username “gavint3101” was sending Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) or child pornography over Snapchat in June of 2022.

The cyber-tip allegedly included an IP address and phone number attributed to Thompson, according to court records, as well as an attachment that allegedly contained four photos of confirmed CSAM, according to court documents.

According to court records, Freeborn County Sheriff Ryan Shea (then a detective with the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office) and another FCSO detective obtained a search warrant for Thompson’s home in June of 2022 and spoke to Thompson.

Thompson allegedly admitted to buying child pornography off Reddit, and viewing and downloading child pornography on his phone, according to court documents.

At that time, the detectives seized Thompson’s phone and sent it to the BCA for examination.

One year later, the FCSO reviewed a USB the BCA provided after examining Thompson’s phone which, according to court documents, allegedly contained 561 videos and 139 photos of CSAM featuring close to 1,000 separate victims ranging from less than a year in age to about 10 years old.

ABC 6 News reached out to Sherif Shea to inquire about the year that elapsed between his original visit with Thompson and the charges pursued in 2023.

He gave the following statement:

The cyber-tip came in to our office in June ’22.  The phone used in the crime was sent to the BCA right away and in January ’23 the data from the phone was provided.  The data from the phone was then searched and documented by our detective, finalizing in July ’23 when the warrant was requested and Mr. Thompson was arrested.

With the shortage of deputies and the change in administration, my detective position was not filled for the first few months of the year, so we were running with one detective until May.  Our detectives balance multiple cases at a time – making some things take longer than we would like, in order to make sure we do a thorough job. …

These types of cases are time consuming, but we want to make sure we do them right.

Judge Ross L. Leuning set bail for Thompson at $100,000 with no conditions, or $25,000 with conditions, including no use of internet or social media, and no contact with juveniles.

Thompson’s next court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 17.