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A former Austin Public Schools paraprofessional has pleaded guilty to two felony charges in a child pornography case.

Vincent Vaughn Askelson, 31, changed his pleas to guilty Monday morning  in Mower County District Court on two counts  of possession of pornographic work involving minors.

As part of the plea, Askelson agreed to a presumptive three years in prison.

According to the court complaint, Askelson was arrested last October after an Austin Police Department detective received a tip from the Internet Crimes Against Children on Aug. 8, 2022, that Snapchat had alerted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of a user who had uploaded, shared or saved 19 files suspected of containing pornographic works involving minors on June 1, 2022. Snapchat provided an IP address, phone number, date of birth, email address and username associated with the files.  Meanwhile, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) issued subpoenas to Snapchat, Google and Sprint for information connected to the case and received information that belonged to Askelson.

The detective discovered three files that were explicit and involved children under the age of eight years old.

More explicitly named files were discovered on a cellphone of Askelson’s and two videos containing pornographic works involving children were also discovered on the laptop. Numerous photos were also discovered on Askelson’s old phone.

All three devices were sent to the BCA for further analysis.

When Askelson was questioned as to whether or not police would find explicit material of children, he allegedly confirmed that he had visited the “dark web” and had admitted that he had seen material. 

However, he also said he wasn’t trying to find the material and that it had just popped up.  He also denied downloading material.

According to a release by Austin Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Joey Page after he was arrested, school administration were aware of the charges and were working with police.

“The district is fully cooperating with law enforcement officials as they conduct their investigation and will continue to do so,” Page said in the letter to families and staff. “There is no information that any Austin Public Schools students were involved.”