MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
By Stephen Montemayor Star Tribune JULY 31, 2017
A former Minnesota youth pastor who admitted to collecting troves of child pornography and engaging in online chatter with a Finnish man he knew abused young children overseas was sentenced last week to more than a dozen years in federal prison.
William Leonard Helker, 47, of Pine City, pleaded guilty in March to one count of distributing child pornography. According to documents filed in court, Helker’s collection included images with superimposed photos of some members of his congregation at All Saints Lutheran Church in Cottage Grove, Minn.
U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz sentenced Helker to 12 ½ years in federal prison to be followed by 15 years of supervised release. Helker was arrested last October after state and federal authorities received a cybertip from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children that a Minnesota man had exchanged child pornography with a person in Finland. The NCMEC listed the tip as a “Priority 1” because the children were assessed as being in danger.
Shortly before Helker’s arrest, European law enforcement identified the Finnish man and rescued his victims, who ranged from 2 to 12 years old. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katharine Buzicky, in court filings, wrote that authorities found correspondence between Helker and a Finnish suspect who was actively abusing several young children and using them to produce child pornography. Helker encouraged and “sometimes suggested” forms of abuse, Buzicky said.
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