Cybertips Lead to Child Pornography Charges Against Rochester Man

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Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - A 19-year-old Rochester man is facing four felony charges involving the dissemination and possession of child pornography.

The criminal complaint against Maximus (Max) Marugg stems from a cyber tip provided to the Rochester Police Department in August 2021 by the social media platform Kik. The tip involved several videos that were uploaded to Kik in February of last year that investigators with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension linked to a phone number belonging to Marugg.

In January of this year, Rochester police received three cyber tips involving 15 videos and 5 images that were uploaded Kik, Instagram, and Snapchat. Court documents say the cyber tips were linked to the earlier cyber tip and prompted the execution of a search warrant at a residence in northwest Rochester and the seizure of Marugg's cell phone.

The complaint also indicates Marugg told investigators he may have downloaded some "wrong" folders and admitted he had multiple Google accounts. some of those accounts matched the emails provided by the cyber tips. The charges allege that a review of the videos found several depicted the sexual abuse of children as young as 3 years old.

A summons has been issued for Marugg that orders him to appear in court for his formal arraignment on Monday.