Plea Deal For Austin Man Who Faced 14 Child Pornography Charges

Austin, MN (KROC-AM News) - A southeastern Minnesota man today entered guilty pleas to multiple child pornography charges.

Court records indicate that 41-year-old Jason Dean Vandeweerd was charged last September following an investigation that was opened in late June after the Austin Police Department received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It indicated that Microsoft had detected a user uploading multiple files of child sexual abuse material.

Phone Records Identified Suspect

According to the criminal complaint, investigators then obtained a subpoena, which prompted T-Mobile to provide information identifying the user as Vandeweerd. The court document also indicates that Vandeweerd was previously required to register as a predatory offender.

The charges say Austin police reviewed the files identified in the cyber tip and determined they contained child sexual abuse material involving the sexual abuse of young children. That led to a search of his home and the seizure of a variety of electronic devices and multiple firearms.

Austin Police Department - Minnesota via Facebook

Disturbing Discoveries on Electronic Devices

The criminal complaint says a forensic examination of the seized devices uncovered numerous videos and images of child sexual abuse material, including depictions of sexual assaults on children as young as infants. The evidence also included a recording of a computer screen in Vandeweerd's residence that displayed a sexually explicit livestream of a young girl.

Illegal Possession of Firearms

He was charged with 13 counts of possession of child pornography and one count of use of minors in a sexual performance or pornographic work. Vandeweerd was also charged with two counts of illegal possession of firearms by a violent felon.

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Plea Deal

Vandeweerd entered guilty pleas to four counts of possession of child pornography in exchange for the dismissal of the 10 other charges, including the count involving the use of minors in a sexual performance.

A Mower County judge has ordered a presentence investigation to be conducted before his sentencing hearing on the child pornography convictions in May.

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Gallery Credit: Curt St. John