Crime & Safety

Police: Burnsville Best Buy Employees Find Child Pornography on Shakopee Man's Computer

Donald John Hofmann was charged with possession of child pornography after Best Buy employees called police.

A Shakopee man has been charged with possession of child pornography after employees at a Best Buy store in Burnsville found sexual images of girls as young as 9 on a computer that he brought in for repair.

Donald John Hofmann, 58, is charged with one count of possessing child pornography, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Hofmann was arrested Thursday on a warrant and was released Friday from the Dakota County Jail on a $5,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled for Oct. 24 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.

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According to the criminal complaint, Burnsville police were called to the Best Buy on Nov. 28, 2009, after employees found pornographic images on a computer brought in by Hofmann.

The employee told police that he was scanning the computer when he came across some titles that he thought might be child pornography.

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Best Buy employees initially told Hofmann that it would take two to four days to service his computer, and the employee who reported the suspected pornography told police that Hofmann was “very reluctant and concerned” about leaving his computer to be worked on overnight.

Best Buy’s policy is not to open files if they believe they contain child pornography, but police found depictions of children being raped and a number of images saved under Hofmann’s “favorites” depicting pre-teen girls in sexual situations, according to the complaint.

Police executed a search warrant at Hofmann’s home on Nov. 30, 2009, and seized his computer. A subsequent forensic examination of the computer turned up a number of images of young girls.

Police sent the questionable files from Hofmann’s computer to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which identified 58 of the images as child victims.

Police interviewed Hofmann, who admitted that he had about 120 images of child pornography stored on the computer, and told police that he had viewed some “questionable material,” according to the complaint. He also admitted viewing sexual images of girls as young as 9, the complaint says.

Hofmann told police that he viewed the images because he was “curious,” according to the complaint.


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