Rochester man sentenced to probation in child pornography case

(ABC 6 News) – Patrick John Gora, 52, was sentenced to 5 years’ probation Nov. 20 after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography — minor under age 13.

Gora entered the guilty plea in September, in exchange for a stay of adjudication, meaning if Gora completes his probation without incident, the offense will be removed from his permanent record.

He was also ordered to complete 100 hours of community service, register as a predatory offender, and attend sex offender treatment.

Another charge of disseminating child pornography–minor under age 13 was dismissed at sentencing.

Gora was charged in June of 2023, after law enforcement accused him of possessing and sending sexual images of obviously prepubescent children to others.

Gora was also accused of chatting with a juvenile girl on a secondary phone, in a conversation that allegedly involved “partially nude” images.

Gora’s probation conditions include a stipulation against holding any position of authority over a child, including babysitting, lifeguarding, camp counseling, etc, and no contact with juvenile girls unless community corrections approves the visit.

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(ABC 6 News) – A Rochester man faces a charge each of possessing and disseminating child pornography.

According to court documents, the MN Bureau of Criminal Apprehension received two tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in April of 2021.

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According to court documents, the tips concerned two MeWe social networking accounts that contained images of Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM), or child pornography.

According to court documents, the accounts were linked to email addresses and phone numbers belonging to Patrick John Gora, 52.

In February of 2022, the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office allegedly seized electronic devices, including a secondary TracFone, from Gora’s residence in Rochester.

According to court documents, Gora initially denied possessing child pornography, then said he “preference was images of teenage girls,” but that he “did not send images of children to others very often and could not remember sending any.”

According to court documents, law enforcement discovered that Gora had sent a picture of an obviously prepubescent girl in a sexual situation via chat to another user.

Gora was also accused of chatting with a juvenile female on his secondary phone. According to court documents, the conversation involved “partially nude” images.

Gora was charged in June of this year, and filed a petition to plead guilty to possessing child pornography in exchange for a probation sentence on Sept. 5.

However, the plea agreement did not go through at Gora’s plea hearing Sept. 21.

He is scheduled to appear in Olmsted County Court for a pretrial hearing March 12, 2024, followed by a jury trial March 18.