Man Pleads Guilty to Producing Child Porn Via Snapchat

ST. PAUL – A Cottage Grove man pleaded guilty Tuesday to production, attempted production, and possession of child pornography.

According to court documents, between June 2019 and April 2020, 38-year-old Peter Monson engaged in “catfishing” by taking on false personas in order to communicate with children on the internet, including via Snapchat.

Monson made a fake Snapchat profile of a 16-year-old girl named “Brianna” and asked minor girls to create sexually explicit photos and videos of themselves to send to Monson so they could be rated by others as “princesses.”

In order to participate as a “princess,” Monson used “Brianna’s” profile to instruct the girls to follow certain rules, including creating and sending images and videos of the girls nude or engaging in sex acts.

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According to court documents, in April 2020, Monson also used his iPhone to make a secret recording of an eight-year-old while the child was getting dressed.