Home Minneapolis Press Releases 2010 St. Joseph Man Makes First Appearance in Federal Court on Child Pornography Charges
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St. Joseph Man Makes First Appearance in Federal Court on Child Pornography Charges

U.S. Attorney’s Office October 05, 2010
  • District of Minnesota (612) 664-5600

A 28-year-old St. Joseph man who was recently indicted in federal court in the District of Minnesota for allegedly possessing 1,200 photographs and over 100 videos of child pornography made his initial court appearance yesterday in Minneapolis. Steven Allen Braun is specifically charged with one count of possession of child pornography.

Authorities learned about Braun during an investigation of people who use peer-to-peer computer software to share child pornography over the Internet. On October 28, 2008, police executed a search warrant at Braun’s residence. There, they seized his computer and found thousands of photographs and hundreds of videos with visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

If convicted, Braun faces a potential maximum penalty of 40 years in federal prison. All sentences will be determined by a federal district court judge.

This case is the result of an investigation by the Minneapolis Police Department, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Charles J. Kovats, Jr.

The U.S. Department of Justice is committed to combating the sexual exploitation of children. It recently submitted to Congress the first-ever National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction. That strategy seeks to strengthens many of the weapons already used in the fight against the proliferation of technology-based sexual exploitation crimes involving children.

For example, the federal website established in 2006 as part of Project Safe Childhood, the United States Department of Justice initial national effort to address Internet-facilitated sex crimes against children, is being relaunched after being improved for better information sharing and crime reporting. The U.S. Marshals Service is launching an operation to locate and apprehend the 500 most dangerous, unregistered sex offenders in the country. And, the Justice Department is developing a national database that will allow federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to deconflict their cases.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood or this new Strategy, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

An indictment is a determination by a grand jury that there is probable cause to believe that offenses have been committed by a defendant. A defendant, of course, is presumed innocent until he or she pleads guilty or is proven guilty at trial.

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