Owatonna School Employee Faces Child Porn Charges

Owatonna, MN (KROC-AM News) - An employee of a southern Minnesota school district is facing child pornography charges.

A criminal complaint filed in Steele County this morning indicates the charges against 30-year-old Jeremy Martin Alvarez are the result of a tip that was received by the Steele County Sheriff's Office from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension last week. The court document says the tip, in part, came from Yahoo and included an email address.

The information was used to link Alvarez to an account on the Kik social media site associated with video downloads depicting suspected child sexual abuse materials. The charges say investigators then executed a search warrant and interviewed Alvarez.

According to the criminal complaint, Alvarez told investigators "he had gotten into meth and coke and that he got hooked on child pornography during that time." He also stated that he has had the addiction for five years, but denied ever meeting with a juvenile and person.

Alvarez is charged with five counts of possession of child pornography. He has been released without bail and is scheduled to return to court for a hearing in early December.

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The Owatonna School District sent out a notice to the families of students indicating that Alvarez, who worked as a school custodian, had been placed on leave as of October 22.