A 19-year-old Hayfield man was sentenced to 90 days in jail for possessing sexual abuse images of children ranging in age from infants to young juveniles.
Michael Nathan Williams appeared in Dodge County District Court on Wednesday, April 5, 2023, before Judge Debra Groehler where he was ordered to register as a predatory offender. He was barred from contacting minors, using the internet without approval or holding any position of authority over minors without approval.
Williams pleaded guilty to three charges of felony possession of pornographic work as part of a January plea deal that dismissed six other similar charges and capped his jail sentence to 90 days.
Groehler ordered a stay of imposition in the case, meaning if Williams successfully completes his probation, his felony charges will be reduced to a misdemeanors, though the court reserves the right to order him to prison if he violates his probation.
Williams must attend a sex offender treatment program and will be allowed work release from jail to attend any sessions.
According to the criminal complaint:
A special agent for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension notified the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 9, 2022, that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a report of sexual child sexual abuse images that had been uploaded to Twitter.
A phone number and the email address “mylittleponyporn7” connected to the Twitter account were found to be owned by Williams.
The images depicted the sexual abuse of children in ages ranging from infant to young juvenile.
Williams told law enforcement that the email and phone number connected to the Twitter account were his on Nov. 30, 2022, while he was detained during a search warrant for his residence.
He said he “more than likely” downloaded the images in question and that he had over 300 images from various websites.