White Earth Man Found Guilty of Making Child Sexual Abuse Material on Red Lake Reservation

A federal jury found a White Earth man guilty of production of child sexual abuse material on the Red Lake Indian Reservation.

According to the evidence presented at trial, in Dec. 2020, 24-year-old Ryan Edward Thompson (a.k.a. Ryan Edward Wayne Townsend) knowingly used a minor in sexually explicit activity to produce pornographic images.

Court documents show the 13-year-old victim used her school-issued laptop to message the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. She disclosed that Thompson, whom she had recently moved in with, began sleeping in her room at night and sexually abusing her.

Law enforcement responded and later discovered photographs of a sexual nature had been taken with the victim’s own cell phone.

Following a three-day trial in U.S. District Court, Thompson was found guilty yesterday on two counts of production and attempted production of child pornography. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date.