NOTE: This report contains details that some may find disturbing
A Hopkins man is facing felony charges related to distributing and possessing child porn after authorities following tips located a “large amount” of apparent child pornography images on his cell phone and within online image storage accounts, according to a Hennepin County criminal complaint filed last month.
Mitchell Mackenzie Arthur Metcalf, 36, was charged last month with three felony counts related to distributing and possessing child pornography following an investigation initiated in May following a tip to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and a subsequent investigation by the Hopkins Police Department.
The Hopkins Police detective investigating the case learned that Metcalf had sent two images of child pornography through Facebook Messenger on March 9 to a party in Colorado. The images were later recovered by police and included an image of a naked pre-adolescent female. Metcalf later spoke to police about the images and stated that someone from his high school had asked him to send him the photographs in exchange for money. Metcalf indicated that both he and the other individual have a “child pornography habit.”
Metcalf then provided his phone to the investigator and indicated that he uses his phone to access child pornography and said that there would be child pornography on his phone. The investigator later accessed the phone and noticed a large amount of what appeared to be child pornography saved on the phone. A search warrant was later executed at Metcalf’s apartment residence located on the 500 block of Mainstreet in Hopkins, Minnesota.
The complaint said that an additional tip was received by the Hopkins Police Department on Nov. 7, 2019, from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the BCA. These tips all pertained to images located on the Google Drive and Google Photos infrastructure. The images consisted of approximately 146 photographs with the vast majority of the photographs depicting pubescent and pre-pubescent children nude and in sexual positions or performing sexual acts. Each tip was associated with a phone number matching Metcalf’s phone number, an email address matching Metcalf’s email address, and IP addresses that match where Metcalf lives and works.
Metcalf has been charged with one felony count of disseminating pornographic work involving minors, which carries a maximum penalty of up to 7 years in prison, and two felony counts of possessing electronic images of pornographic work involving minors, which carries a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison on each count. However, the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Grid for sex offenders allows for stayed sentences upon conviction of those crimes for people with a low or no criminal history score.
Minnesota court records show that Metcalf has two prior misdemeanor DWI convictions in 2014 and 2016, and that he was charged in 2005 with felony burglary and theft. The burglary and theft charges were eventually dismissed, and Metcalf was convicted only on damage to property, which was deemed a misdemeanor upon completion of his probation period. Those levels of conviction leave Metcalf with no discernable criminal history score for sentencing purposes if convicted on the new felony charges, allowing for stayed sentences at the discretion of the judge.
Metcalf was arrested and booked into Hennepin County Jail on Nov. 14. He made an initial court appearance on Nov. 19 and was ordered conditionally released with no bail required by Judge Tamara G. Garcia and is currently not in custody. Metcalf is next scheduled to appear in Hennepin County court on Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 9 a.m.
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Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota.
Crime Watch MN
Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
