A National Guard member returned to St. Paul after deployment last winter to learn investigators suspected him of stockpiling hundreds of images of child pornography on his computer and phone, authorities say.
Christopher Daniel Carroll, 34, was charged Thursday in Ramsey County District Court with 20 felony charges, according to the criminal complaint filed against him.
Law enforcement started homing in on Carroll’s alleged criminal activities after receiving a tip from the Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force regarding uploads of child pornography from an IP address investigators later linked to Carroll, the complaint said.
Agents executed a warrant at his address in the 600 block of Hoyt Avenue in April 2017 and were told by Carroll’s roommates at the time that Carroll had been deployed to Cuba a couple of months prior and was still out of the country, authorities say.
His roommates denied using Carroll’s devices in his absence and no troubling images were found on their own personal belongings, the complaint said.
Carroll’s computer, an external hard drive and cellphone were all seized during the search and some 900 images of child pornography were discovered among the devices, legal documents say.
Police attempted to interview Carroll about the images last February after he returned from deployment, but he declined to speak to them without an attorney, the complaint said.
No attorney was listed for Carroll in court records and he could not be reached for comment Friday. He has no criminal convictions on his record in Minnesota other than for minor traffic offenses.
Carroll is scheduled to make his first appearance on the allegations in February.