Man charged with possessing, disseminating child pornography

Published 2:01 pm Monday, September 16, 2024

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An Albert Lea man was charged Monday in Freeborn County District Court with possession and dissemination of child pornography.

George Vicuna, 28, faces one count of disseminating pornographic work of a minor under age 14 and one count of possessing pornographic work of a minor under 14.

According to court documents, police executed a search warrant at a residence on Edgewood Avenue on Friday after identifying Vicuna as a person who lived at the residence and who was likely to be in possession of child sexual abuse material. Albert Lea police had been contacted by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension regarding a tip from the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children.

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Court records state while police attempted to execute the search warrant, Vicuna’s girlfriend was arrested for obstructing the legal process for reportedly trying to put a chair in front of the door when police tried to open the door. The door was ultimately kicked open, and the woman told police Vicuna was not there and that he was at work at REM.

Police seized three laptops and a tablet during the search, along with five cell phones and various digital media.

Court documents state the investigation is in the initial phase and has so far revealed four digital files containing child pornography, including three still images and one video. More files have yet to be evaluated.

According to information shared by Snapchat through a CyberTip to the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children, the still images were allegedly shared by Vicuna in March with two different Snapchat accounts.

Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension analysts served an administrative search warrant for the IP addresses associated with the tip and discovered both Vicuna’s name and address as well as the address of his workplace.

Freeborn County District Court Judge Ross Leuning set Vicuna’s unconditional bail at $400,000 and conditional bail at $20,000. Conditions include no unsupervised contact with people under 18, signing a waiver of extradition and not accessing or using the internet without approval, among others.

He is next slated to appear in court on Thursday.