On November 13, 2025, Detective Schantzen of the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office, in the course of a sexual assault and Child [NAME REDACTED], was conducting a search pursuant to search warrant of a phone belonging to Timothy Allen Peterson, [DOB REDACTED], Defendant herein. The phone had been previously seized from Defendant's person in the city of Lino Lakes, Anoka County, Minnesota, earlier the same day. During the search, Detective Schantzen located CSAM images of 4-year-old Child A, taken in Defendant’s bathroom.
Detective Schantzen also located a series of pictures of a prepubescent female wearing a blue sweatshirt with flowers on it, also initially believed to be Child A. When Detective Schantzen showed one of the images containing a partial face of the child to Child A’s parents, they identified the Child as 4-year-old Child B. Detective Schantzen contacted Child B’s parents who confirmed that it was Child B in the pictures. The series of pictures located on Defendant’s phone included nine pictures in which Child B was not wearing pants or underwear, her shirt was pulled up, and the focal point of the images was Child B’s vagina.
Four images showed Child B laying down with her legs spread apart, exposing her vagina. Three images showed a male hand penetrating Child B’s vagina. On November 19, 2025, Child B’s parents came to the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office for an interview. Child B’s parents, who are Defendant’s brother and sister-in-law, indicated that Child B would only see Defendant at family gatherings. They did recall one time when Child B was left alone with Defendant on November 8, 2024, when Child B was 3-years-old.
They explained that Defendant had asked if Child B could have a sleepover at his house with his children. While Child B’s parents did not agree to a sleepover, they did agree to let Defendant watch Child B while they went out to dinner. They also explained that Defendant would have been the only adult in the home at the time, because his wife was out of town.
