Man arrested on child pornography charges

Le Sueur County Sheriff Brett Mason reports that on March 27, 2019, Leonard Elmore Beatty III, 61, of rural Montgomery was arrested after Investigators from the Le Sueur County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force and Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, executed a search warrant as part of an investigation related to the possession and dissemination of child pornography.

Mason stated that earlier this year, an investigation conducted by the Task Force revealed that files determined to contain child pornography were being shared online and the host computer was traced back to Beatty’s residence. The Task Force later conducted a second investigation that again identified a host computer sharing files determined to contain child pornography. Again, the host computer was traced back to Beatty’s residence.

As part of the follow up investigation, Sheriff’s Office Investigators assisted by the Task Force, would execute a search warrant at Beatty’s residence. Additional evidence of the possession and dissemination of child pornography was located during the search warrant.

Mason stated that investigators found multiple computer systems, external hard drives, hundreds of CD’s containing downloaded files, as well as multiple flash drives that contained sexually explicit material.

Beatty was subsequently arrested at his place of employment and is being held at the Le Sueur County Jail. He has been charged in Le Sueur County District Court with one count of Dissemination of Child Pornography and 18 counts of Possession of Child Pornography, all felony charges.

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