A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer from Minnetonka is headed to federal prison for nearly six years after pleading guilty to child-pornography charges, capping a case that rattled colleagues and federal brass alike. The sentence also includes a decade of federal supervision once he gets out.
U.S. District Judge Laura M. Provinzino on Thursday sentenced 52-year-old Anthony John Crowley to 71 months behind bars, the top of the advisory guideline range. As reported by Twin Cities, Provinzino sharply criticized Crowley in court, telling him, "you wore the badge, people trusted you," and stressing that his long federal law-enforcement career had put him in a position of trust he ultimately betrayed.
Crowley was first charged and arrested in June 2025. He pleaded guilty last September and has been on indefinite suspension from Customs and Border Protection since then, according to reporting by the Star Tribune. Local coverage has noted that his case is one of several recent prosecutions involving people who once carried badges or held other public-trust roles.
How investigators tied uploads to Crowley
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, the case started when the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force identified a Kik messaging app user in 2022 who was uploading child sexual-abuse material.
Investigators traced that Kik user ID to a phone number and email address linked to Crowley, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. A search warrant for his home followed, and agents seized electronic devices that contained numerous images along with what officials described as "child erotica" stories.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson did not mince words, calling Crowley’s conduct "a disgrace" and stressing that the office has "zero tolerance for people in positions of trust and authority who abuse children," according to the release. Federal prosecutors publicly thanked the FBI, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional Responsibility for their roles in the investigation.
Sentence, penalties and what comes next
Provinzino ultimately imposed a 71-month prison term followed by 10 years of supervised release, landing at the top of the guideline range in the case, Twin Cities reports. Crowley remains in federal custody while the Bureau of Prisons determines where he will serve his sentence and completes the administrative steps that come with moving a defendant into the prison system.
A string of recent cases involving officers
Crowley’s downfall is not an isolated headline. His prosecution landed amid a recent run of federal child-exploitation cases centered on people who worked in or alongside law enforcement.
In May, a Minnesota State Patrol trooper was hit with federal child-pornography charges, as reported by CBS Minnesota. The following month, a Homeland Security Investigations special agent was charged in a separate child sexual-abuse material case, according to local coverage by KAAL.
Prosecutors and investigators in these matters have repeatedly driven home the same point: a badge, title or federal paycheck will not shield anyone from child-exploitation charges.
Legal note
Crowley pleaded guilty in federal court last year under statutes that criminalize possession and related offenses involving child sexual-abuse material. The punishment handed down Thursday includes both the prison term and a lengthy period of supervised release, which is designed to keep federal authorities monitoring him long after he leaves custody. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota.
