On December 8, 2025, Stearns County Sheriff's investigator Scott Romstad was assigned to a child sex abuse material (CSAM) case that originated from a Google account. Google detected several images and videos that were suspected to be CSAM. The suspected images and videos were on a customer "cloud storage" account belonging to MATTHEW JOHN MONSON, [DOB REDACTED], the defendant herein. The CSAM on the Google cloud storage account was accessed with two different IP addresses on several dates in August of 2025. Google reported this cyber tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the MN BCA Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.
Cyber tip #219294544 contained 997 files which were suspected to be CSAM. One such image was reviewed and contains a nude, prepubescent female approximately 6-8 years old sitting between an adult male's legs. The adult male is holding his erect penis, and the head of his penis is in the mouth of the child. The MN BCA ICAC Task Force found that the two IP addresses used to access the Google cloud storage account were associated with a rehabilitation center located in the City of Holdingford. The defendant was confirmed to have stayed at that same rehabilitation center for over a year; from approximately October of 2024 to December of 2025. On January 15, 2026, Investigator Romstad met with the defendant at the Stearns County Sheriff's Office, located in the City of St. Cloud, County of Stearns, State of Minnesota, and executed a search warrant to search the defendant's cellular phone.
A successful extraction was completed on the defendant's Motorola phone, and upon review, officers found over a thousand (1000) images and/or videos that constitute CSAM. 10 images and 3 videos are summarized below: (1) Filename: 014-01.jpg – Image depicts a female child [NAME REDACTED], lying on her back on a red blanket that has images of roses. The child appears to be under the age of 13 years old, due to the physical body size, lack of pubic hair being present, and no breast development. The child has her hands under her back, and her legs are spread to the side, exposing her vagina, along with her bare chest.
This image was downloaded on August 20, 2025. (2) Filename: [PHONE REDACTED].jpg – Image depicts a young female child [NAME REDACTED] from the shoulders up and appears to be under the age of six years old, due to physical size and appearance. The child has her face next to a male's erect penis and appears to be licking the penis with her tongue. There is a hand, believed to be the male's, that is holding the erect penis up. This image was downloaded on December 23, 2024. (3) Filename: [PHONE REDACTED].jpg – Image depicts a young female child, who appears to be under the age of six years old, due to physical body size, is lying on her back.
