Mahtowa man charged with child sex abuse

A 21-year-old Mahtowa man is faced with unrelated charges of child pornography and sexual abuse of a child following new charges after his arrest this summer.

Ricky Onefeather Tobolaski, 21, of Mahtowa, was arrested June 16 and charged with possession of pornographic work involving a minor under the age of 14, along with possessing pornographic work electronically. Late last month, while in jail on the pornography charges, additional charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct were filed against Tobolaski.

According to the criminal complaint in the most recent case, a mandated reporter told the Carlton County Sheriff’s Office that Tobeleski had abused a girl, then approximately age 7, several years ago when he was babysitting her.

In a forensic interview, the girl alleged that Tobolaski had come into her room and let her play on his phone. He then pulled down her pants and performed oral sex. Afterward he let her play on his phone again.

The child’s family confirmed that Tobolaski had babysat the girl. Tobolaski admitted he had babysat, but denied sexually touching the girl.

Now 21, Tobolaski was 16 years old when the alleged incident occurred, but he is being charged as an adult because of his age now.

The victim said she reported the abuse now because she was worried Tobolaski might do the same thing to someone else.

Tobolaski was arrested in June after a months-long investigation by the Carlton County Sheriff’s Office that started with a cybertip from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in January. The cybertip indicated a Snapchat account had uploaded suspected child sexual abuse material: one depicting a pre-pubescent minor engaging in a sex act, and the other a pubescent minor engaging in a sex act. The Snapchat account was associated with Tobalaski’s gmail account.

Subpoenas to Snapchat and Google revealed Tobalaski’s physical address for billing, a recovery cell phone number for the account, and an IP log. The Snapchat account was created in 2018 and deactivated the day after the child pornography was downloaded.

Law enforcement interviewed Tobalaski in January, and he gave the same cell phone number as his contact.

Tobalaski remains in the Carlton County Jail with bail set at $10,000 cash or $100,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in both cases is set for 9 a.m. Dec. 4.