27 September 2023
ST. PAUL A Carlton man admitted Tuesday to sexually abusing at least six young children and creating numerous explicit photos and videos.
Stephan Jeremiah Hansen, 29, pleaded guilty at a hearing in U.S. District Court to a count of production and attempted production of child pornography.
Authorities said the children were between the approximate ages of 2 and 12 at the time of the abuse, which began at least as early as 2015 and continued until he became the focus of a law enforcement investigation in early 2022.
Hansen, according to documents, possessed at least 119 unique images of child pornography some of which he produced, and others he downloaded from the internet including material depicting at least five of his abuse victims.
Hansen faces 15-30 years in federal prison, with guidelines calling for the statutory maximum sentence based on factors including the age and vulnerability of the victims. However, attorneys will be free to argue for any sentence within the mandatory range, according to the terms of a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Federal prosecutors will drop three additional child pornography charges, the agreement states, while the Carlton County Attorney’s Office will dismiss the entirety of a State District Court case charging Hansen with 16 counts of criminal sexual conduct and production and possession of child pornography.
U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell ordered a presentence investigation of Hansen’s background. A sentencing date was not immediately set.
The Carlton County Sheriff’s Office began its investigation of Hansen in March 2022 after the St. Paul Police Department reported that a “non-consensual picture was taken of a juvenile in a bathroom stall at the Children’s Museum in St. Paul.”
Hansen’s phone was later seized pursuant to a search warrant, as were the contents of his iCloud account. Investigators determined that much of the child sexual abuse material appeared to be homemade, as it could not be traced back to known child pornography, and they were later able to confirm the identifies of the victims and the locations where the abuse occurred.
In an interview, Hansen admitted to sexually abusing the children, who were known to him, and producing the pornographic content. He reportedly told investigators he could not recall how long he had been doing it, but said his “target range (for the victims) was 3-7 years old.”
Hansen was first charged in Carlton County in July 2022, with federal prosecutors securing an indictment in late May.
The defendant also was a licensed foster care provider, though the Carlton County Attorney’s Office indicated last summer that none of the identified victims were foster children and no foster children were in his home at the time of his arrest. The Minnesota Department of Human Services suspended his license last October at the request of the Fond du Lac Foster Care Licensing and Placement Agency.
Hansen remains in federal custody without bail, currently at the Sherburne County Jail.
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