Anti-child-porn vigilante?s trap yields guilty plea from former Minneapolis teacher lured to park

An anti-child-porn vigilante’s trap has led to a guilty plea from a 
onetime Minneapolis teacher who went to a park near his school seeking to 
swap sexually explicit images of children.

Preston Casey Palmer, 35, pleaded guilty Monday in Hennepin County 
District Court to six felony counts involving solicitation, possession and 
distribution of child pornography in connection with his arrest on May 14 
at Brackett Field Park, close to the school where he worked.

The plea agreement reached between prosecutors and the defense calls for 
Palmer to receive a 10-year sentence. With credit for time in jail since 
his arrest, he is expected to serve the first 6? years in prison and the 
balance on supervised release.

In the meantime, Palmer remains jailed in lieu of $75,000 bail ahead of 
sentencing, which is scheduled for Dec. 2.

Palmer worked at Southwest High School, Ella Baker (pre-K through eighth 
grade), the Anishinabe Academy and Waite Park elementary schools, and most 
recently Sullivan STEAM School since he was hired last November.

Sullivan, with grades pre-K through eighth, is located in the Longfellow 
neighborhood, near the park where Palmer was arrested about 3:30 p.m.

While Palmer was being apprehended, a child in the park said, “‘That’s my 
teacher,’” the criminal complaint said.

Soon after the charges were filed, Palmer was fired, the school district 
said.

Palmer was arrested after he was lured to the park by Alex Rosen, leader 
of Predator Poachers, whose members purposely lure alleged pedophiles, 
then post videos of suspects being apprehended by police. Rosen’s X 
account has more than 480,000 followers.

According to the charges:

Police were sent to the park and spoke with several people with Predator 
Poachers. They told police that Palmer had been communicating since March 
with a 17-year-old posing as a 13-year-old boy.

After sending sexually explicit images and videos, the charges say, Palmer 
agreed to a meeting in the park with the boy and another member of the 
vigilante group posing as the boy’s father.

His cellphone contained more than 1,000 files, the charges said. A 
preliminary review of 40 files turned up numerous images of child sexual 
abuse involving victims as young as 5 years old.

https://www.startribune.com/anti-child-porn-vigilantes-trap-yields-guilty-
plea-from-former-minneapolis-teacher-lured-to-park/601515934