MINNESOTA
KAAL
March 14, 2017
A former Cottage Grove pastor pleaded guilty in federal court to distribution of child pornography Thursday.
Forty-seven-year-old William Leonard Helker of Pine City was arrested in October at his home. The arrest came after Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force executed a search warrant at his home and All Saints Lutheran Church in Cottage Grove.
The agency was tipped off by Facebook and Instagram that a user was suspected of possessing child porn.
Investigators said they found Helker communicated with a man in Finland, planning to trade images of preteen and teenage girls, according to the criminal complaint.
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