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An Albert Lea man convicted of engaging in electronic communication relating sexual conduct with a child was sentenced Friday to five years of supervised probation.

Stephen Brian Besco, 32, initially faced two counts, including one count of soliciting a child through electronic communication to engage in sexual conduct, but that charge was dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

Court documents state the charges stemmed from messages that took place in February 2023 on Snapchat on two accounts.

Police reportedly began investigating Besco after a woman reported her then 15-year-old child was receiving messages from an account online.

The subscriber information, including date of birth, email address and phone number, all matched Besco’s information.

In addition to the probation, Freeborn County District Court Judge Christy Hormann ordered Besco attend a sex offender program and not possess any pornographic or sexually explicit books, videos, magazines or games. He must also not enter places where sexual materials are available and not use any phone lines, dating services, social networks or any business where the primary source of business is adult entertainment.

In addition, he must obtain a psychological-sexual evaluation and disclose all electronic devices to his probation agent, which could also be subject to monitoring software, among other conditions.