Man faces 8 counts related to child pornography

A 50-year-old Cloquet man faces eight felony counts of child pornography after being turned into police by a person residing in the same home.

Richard Craig Carlson appeared in Sixth District Court remotely from jail on Wednesday, making a first appearance before Judge Amy Lukasavitz.

Carlson’s attorney, Veronica Surges, asked for a speedy, uncontested omnibus hearing to be scheduled.

Lukasavitz said the time before the next hearing at 10:45 a.m. May 22 would give Carlson an “opportunity to work with Ms. Surges … [to] come back and see where we can go with this.”

According to a notice filed in court by the Carlton County Attorney’s Office, Carlson has made statements to authorities “in the nature of confessions” to the crimes.

The eight charges are related to child pornography found on multiple devices, including a second phone found during a search last month of Carlson’s home on Avenue D in Cloquet.

The case against Carlson began two years ago, on April 18, 2022, when Cloquet police received a report from someone in Carlson’s home. The person was using Carlson’s phone when they “observed hundreds of images of child pornography,” according to the criminal complaint.

The person provided the phone to the police, and a subsequent search warrant last month, using an electronics canine, uncovered six other cellular devices, a laptop computer, several DVDs and seven film cameras.

Each charge carries a 10-year maximum prison sentence and a $10,000 fine. Carlson remains in Carlton County Jail on $100,000 bail.

Authorities received a first round of phone extraction data from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in March 2023, revealing 774 images, including 26 victims.

A device registered to Carlson’s email account was found in Carlson’s bedroom last month and data extracted allegedly revealed 645 additional images. The data included meta data that showed the date and time the material was last accessed.

Analysis of the original phone provided to police showed “a large amount of activity directed at finding (child sexual abuse material),” said the criminal complaint, including websites where sex dolls resembling school-aged children are sold.

The criminal complaint catalogs numerous graphic descriptions of material containing sexual exploitation and assaults of children found in Carlson’s possession.

The state’s list of witnesses filed with the court features numerous officers, detectives and sargeants associated with the Cloquet Police Department and Minnesota BCA. It also includes the names of three people who share an address with Carlson.

In court Wednesday, Carlson at one point said he did not know what it meant to have a second omnibus hearing scheduled. The judge explained there was more discovery evidence to go over.