'Time does not heal what he has stolen'

“We know that Mr. Hansen abused every child in his orbit.”

Those were the words from Assistant U.S. Attorney Ruth Shnider Tuesday as she spoke to a judge in federal court in Duluth about the proper sentence for Stephan Hansen, the 30-year-old former foster parent and Carlton resident who was found, and who admitted, to be in possession of more than 1,600 exploitative and pornographic pictures or videos of children.

After a plea deal made last fall, Hansen was facing a 15- to 30-year prison sentence. U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell heard from Hansen’s attorney, Shnider and victims of Hansen in the third-floor courtroom in the Gerald W. Heaney Federal Building & U.S. Courthouse. Blackwell said he studied similar cases and sentenced Hansen to 25 years in prison and 15 years of highly supervised probation after he serves his time.

Hansen’s victims and their family members said Tuesday before the sentencing that a life sentence would have been deserved.

“You stole our children’s childhood,” one person said, adding that Hansen was a “disgusting, vile, nasty person.”

She wanted Hansen to know that the children he took pictures of or inappropriately touched will face a lifetime of recovery from the trauma. She wanted him to know that, and — once he is in prison — to know that “no one will ever think of you. You do not exist to anyone anymore.”

Public bathroom The case against Hansen began in March of 2022 in St. Paul, when a report was made about a nonconsensual picture taken of a juvenile at the Minnesota Children’s Museum there. According to the St. Paul Police Department, officers were told that an adult stranger had taken photos of a juvenile male in a bathroom stall. Officers said an employee of the museum provided surveillance footage of Hansen that helped in identifying him. St. Paul officers spoke with Hansen later in March and seized his cell phone under warrant.

Sgt. David McCabe, a spokesman for the St. Paul police, said it took three months to get into Hansen’s phone via permissions from a phone company.

Further investigation revealed hundreds of photos and videos of children ages 2 to 12 on Hansen’s phone and cloud storage account. Many included children who remain unidentified, Shnider said Tuesday. Others were images he produced depicting at least five of his victims.

Hansen, according to a police report, admitted he sexually abused five children. Those charges were amended after a sixth child also reported sexual abuse.

Hansen and his wife at the time were licensed foster parents until the charges were brought forward. Their status was suspended, according to state files on the Fond du Lac Foster Care Licensing & Placement Agency.

The case was soon a collaborative effort with investigators from St. Paul and the Carlton County Sheriff’s Office. The Carlton County Attorney’s Office filed 16 criminal sexual conduct and pornography charges in Sixth District Carlton County Court in July 2022. Hansen was charged in U.S. District Court in Duluth on four counts of production and attempted production of child pornography in May 2023.

Hansen formally pleaded guilty in October 2023 to one count of production and attempted production of child pornography. Under the terms of the plea agrement, federal prosecutors dropped three additional child pornography charges and the 16 state charges will also be dropped.

Carlton County Attorney Lauri Ketola said then that the goal was to give Hansen a more severe sentence than state law allows, about two years compared to the federal guideline of 15- to 30 years in pornography cases.

‘Monster’

Hansen’s attorney, Tom Shiah, urged Judge Blackwell to not impose a 30-year sentence. “You can say he’s a bad man, a monster. But he’s still a human being.”

“He’s still salvageable.”

Shiah said Hansen should be punished, but 15 years would be more appropriate. He said Hansen has been cooperative since his arrest in seeking help and trying to figure out why he did what he did. “He’s not shirking what he did,” Shiah said.

He then brought up Hansen’s own abusive childhood and digging at the root causes of his actions. “People don’t just (one day) reach out and start doing nasty things with children.”

Hansen, guarded by two officers from the U.S. Marshals Service and wearing orange flip-flops and clothes from Douglas County Jail in Wisconsin, was contrite in the words he read to the judge from a sheet of yellow paper.

He said he was aware of the “horror I’ve caused” and that his abuse was “truly inexcusable.”

He said he would continue to work on discovering the “demons in the closet.”

“I need to learn how this came to be.”

After hearing the word “monster” several times in the proceedings Tuesday, Hansen responded. “I’m not a monster,” he said. “I vow to do my best to be a better person. I’m truly sorry.”

The reaction on the faces of the victims in the courtroom could be read as a steely resolve.

The one direct victim who made a statement, now 14 years old, said cooly that she will never forgive the psychological pain Hansen forced her into, in making her be quiet about the abuse, and pushing her from being active in the community for fear of someone finding out about what he was doing to her and others.

“Nasty monster,” she said.

Time to heal?

U.S. Attorney Shnider said Hansen took part in “extraordinarily dangerous behavior,” as seen in the museum when he took a picture of a complete stranger. She called his actions a “unique type of harm” that “these victims have to live with forever.”

She said the “stakes were too high” for Hansen to get a light sentence and then be back in society. She said the chances of him abusing again were too great.

She said she can see the “cruelty” he inflicted in comparing how his victims are doing today. They are taking part in life, she said, and “flourishing” without Hansen bearing down on them.

One woman sent a statement to the court to be read by a victim’s advocate. She cited “countless days” crying and consoling children having nightmares, suicidal thoughts and crushing emotional and physical pain.

“He destroyed them,” she wrote. “Time does not heal what he has stolen. You are cruel and heartless and have no soul.”

Judge Blackwell said he was aware from the victims’ comments in court that Hansen should spend the rest of his life in jail, that even a maximum term of 30 years would not be enough. He said 25 years would offer Hansen time to right himself if he chooses to, and would also protect the public.

Was he “salvageable,” as his attorney suggested? Blackwell mused. “It’s up to you,” he told Hansen, then offered an old koan: “A saint is a sinner who never gave up.”

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Help for victims

Here are some places that you can reach out to for support and advocacy regarding child sexual abuse:

• Carlton County

Attorney’s Office

218-384-9170

• Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault (PAVSA)

218-726-1931

• First Witness

218-727-8353

• Fond du Lac Reservation crisis line 218-348-1817