Former Minneapolis teacher sentenced to 10 years for possessing child sexual abuse material
A former Minneapolis elementary school teacher was sentenced to 10 years for possessing child sexual abuse material and soliciting a minor to engage in sexual conduct.
In May, Minneapolis Park police were called to Brackett Field on a report that 35-year-old Preston Palmer was about to give a "substantial quantity of child sexual abuse materials to another individual."
The documents describe a group of people who work to uncover people soliciting minors for sexual acts. A 17-year-old member of the group told Palmer they were a 13-year-old boy, and charging documents say the two had conversations that were "overtly sexual."
Palmer told the 17-year-old posing as the boy that he had 87 gigabytes of child sexual abuse material and more than 1,000 videos on what he called his "pedophone." He agreed to meet with another member of the group — who was posing as the boy's father — at Brackett Field. The group then called police when Palmer arrived at the park.
Palmer faced 14 felony counts and pleaded guilty to six of them: one count of soliciting a child or someone believed to be a child through electronic communication to engage in sexual conduct and five counts of possessing pornographic work of a minor.
He was employed at a Minneapolis public school at the time of his arrest. He was later fired.
If you know of a child who may have been a victim of exploitation, call the National Center for Missing or Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 or visit the website.