Minnesota Child Pornographer Gets 33 Years
St. Paul, MN (KROC-AM News) - A Twin Cities man has been given a lengthy prison sentence for his conviction on federal child pornography charges.
The US Attorney's Office for Minnesota says 38-year-old Peter Monson of Cottage Grove has been sentenced to 400 months, or more than 33 years behind bars, and has been ordered to pay $132,000 in restitution to funds supporting victims of child pornography. He earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of production and attempted production of child photography and one count of possession of child pornography.
A news release says he engaged in what is known as "catfishing" to con minor girls into creating sexually explicit images and videos of themselves and sending them to Monson. The charges detail how he created a fake Snapchat account and pretended to be a 16-year-old girl online. Court records also alleged he used his iPhone to secretly record an eight-year-old child while she was getting dressed.
Prosecutors say the criminal activity occurred between June 2019 and February of last year. The case was investigated by the Minneapolis FBI, the FBI Field Office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania State Police, and the Cottage Grove Police Department.