Teacher Facing 14 Felonies After Child Porn Sting at Minneapolis Park
A Minneapolis elementary school substitute teacher has been jailed on 14 felony charges after he allegedly brought child porn to someone he believed was the father of a 13-year-old boy.
Preston Casey Palmer, 34, was arrested Wednesday, May 14, at a park on the 2700 block of 39th Avenue South in Minneapolis, next to the school where he teaches, court documents say.
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According to charges filed in Hennepin County, Palmer had been communicating online with people he believed were a boy and his father. In reality, the messages were part of a months-long sting operation conducted by self-proclaimed “predator hunter” Alex Rosen, who tracks and exposes child exploitation activity.
THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS DESCRIPTIONS OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE. DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Palmer’s online conversations began in March with someone claiming to be a 13-year-old boy. According to the complaint, the messages quickly turned sexual. Palmer allegedly sent the child explicit messages, including a clothed image of his crotch and a picture showing his face. He reportedly referred to the child as “naughty 13yo” and discussed masturbation, his sexual preferences and past experiences.
Prosecutors say Palmer bragged that he had more than 1,000 videos stored on his “pedophone,” totaling 87 gigabytes of illegal content. He told the person he was a teacher, described multiple elementary aged boys he thought were attractive and admitted to picturing students naked while in the classroom.
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The complaint also details messages in which Palmer expressed a desire to “marry a younger pedo,” referenced participation in child porn trading groups and asked the child if he missed the “horny vids.” The online group continued the operation by introducing a second account posing as the boy’s father. Palmer allegedly initiated that contact and described his sexual interest in boys as young as five.
Palmer claimed his “age of attraction” started at age eight and outlined how he would “groom” children based on their developmental stage. He offered to trade content, asked the purported father whether the child had been exposed to abuse and sent an image of a man and a boy he said created child porn together.
The group arranged to meet Palmer at the Minneapolis park. Before the meet-up, Palmer spoke by phone with the fake father and offered to share files in person. When he arrived, the group contacted Minneapolis Park Police. Officers responded and took Palmer into custody. A witness at the park later told police that a young child pointed to Palmer during the arrest and said, “That’s my teacher.”
During his arrest, Palmer admitted he was “sorry,” called himself an “addict” and said he would be a felon and on the registry, the court documents say. Police recovered a phone and flash drive, both of which are being examined by investigators. A preview of 40 random files revealed graphic content, including videos of children as young as five being abused, child-on-child sex acts, voyeuristic recordings of children in changing areas and an explicit video compilation.
Palmer is charged with distributing, soliciting and engaging in sexual communication with someone he believed was a child. He also faces charges for attempted dissemination and possession of pornographic work involving children under 14. The complaint includes eight separate counts of possession, tied to different videos or file groupings. He remains in custody on $250,000 bail.
A judge ordered that Palmer have no contact with minors and no access to internet-capable devices without monitoring software. The full forensic review of his devices is still underway. If convicted on all charges, Palmer faces decades in prison.
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