St. Peter man facing child porn charges

A St. Peter man is facing child pornography charges.

Leslie Walter Havemeier III, 19, was charged with one felony count of using minors in pornographic work in Nicollet County Court last week.

A criminal complaint says the Nicollet County investigators received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of someone using a wireless device to upload 11 child sexual abuse files to cloud-based storage.

Investigators identified the account subscriber and phone number tied to the cloud account to Havemeier, according to the complaint.  A search warrant executed on the storage account showed the original 11 files and an additional 15 files containing images of minors engaged in sexual conduct.  Police say the warrant also identified other entries that confirmed the account belonged to Havemeier.

Investigators performed a search warrant in September 2023 at Havemeier’s home.  The complaint says Havemeier told officers he knew why they were there.  He told police where his cell phone was located, and said there was a desktop computer, but he only used it to play games and there shouldn’t be any contraband on it.

Havemeier told police he wanted to consult with an attorney and the interview was discontinued.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension located an additional video on Havemeier’s cell phone during an analysis of his device, according to the complaint.

Havemeier has been summoned to appear in Nicollet County Court on June 11.