White Earth man found guilty of producing child porn in Red Lake Nation
Feb. 2—FERGUS FALLS — A White Earth man has been found guilty of producing child pornography after a 13-year-old girl disclosed incidents of sexual abuse to a suicide prevention lifeline in December 2020.
According to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice, evidence presented at trial showed that in December 2020, 34-year-old Ryan Edward Thompson, also known as Ryan Edward Wayne Townsend, knowingly used a minor in sexually explicit activity to produce pornographic images.
Using her school-issued laptop to message the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, the 13-year-old victim disclosed that she had recently moved in with Thompson, the release said.
She said that he began sleeping in her room at night and sexually abusing her. Law enforcement responded and later discovered that sexual photos had been taken with the victim's own cell phone, the release said.
Following a three-day trial in U.S. District Court, Thompson was found guilty on Thursday on two counts of production and attempted production of child pornography. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date.
This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and the Red Lake Department of Public Safety, with the assistance of the White Earth Nation Indian Child Welfare Services, the Red Lake Nation Victim Services, Fosston Public Schools, Minneapolis Public Schools, and the Family Advocacy Center of Northern Minnesota.
"The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice," the release said. "Led by U.S. Attorney's Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims."
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit
For mental health crisis support, call or text
988
or visit the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline chat to connect with a trained crisis specialist.
