A man from White Earth has received a prison sentence of nearly 25 years after being convicted of producing child pornography on the Red Lake Reservation, U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger announced. Per court documents, Ryan Edward Thompson, aged 34, was involved in the sexual exploitation of a minor, leading to the creation of explicit material, as per the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Minnesota.
Thompson, who was also known as "Ryan Edward Wayne Townsend," began this criminal chapter by sexually abusing a 13-year-old. The girl, utilizing her school-issued laptop, reached out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline revealing that Thompson had been sexually abusing her at night while she slept. It was with the victim's cell phone that the indecent photographs were taken, an action that eventually led to his undoing.
The U.S. Attorney's Office reported that a federal jury found Thompson guilty of two counts of production and attempted production of child pornography on February 1, 2024, following a thorough investigation by the FBI and local authorities. The subsequent sentence was handed down by Judge John R. Tunheim in U.S. District Court, on the day before the announcement.
Several agencies, including the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and the Red Lake Department of Public Safety contributed to the investigation, the office would also like to acknowledge the cooperation of the White Earth Nation Indian Child Welfare Services, and Red Lake Nation Victim Services among other institutions. Thompson's case was prosecuted as a part of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative aiming to combat child exploitation and abuse since its inception in 2006
