Thief River Falls, MN (trfnews.i234.me) – A Thief River Falls man was sentenced Tuesday, Oct. 8 in Pennington County District Court for possessing three images of child pornography in 2023.
Michael Robert Schake, 71, was also accused of possessing seven other photos of child pornography, but those charges were dismissed in a plea agreement. Schake was sentenced for three felony counts of possession of pornographic work involving minors under age 14.
For one count, he was sentenced to 24 months in prison and stayed for five years. For the second count, Schake was sentenced to 36 months in prison and stayed for five years. For the third count, Schake was sentenced to 60 months in prison and stayed for five years. Those sentences are to be served concurrently with one another.
For each offense, he was ordered to serve supervised probation for five years. Each count also comes with a five-year conditional release period if the prison sentence were executed. He was granted credit for 267 days served. The other seven felony counts of possession of pornographic work involving minors under 14 were dismissed.
During sentencing, Judge Tamara Yon said the first two counts weren’t departures from sentencing guidelines. However, the sentence for count three was a downward dispositional departure following the plea agreement. Yon indicated that counsel, probation, and psychosexual evaluations supported the departure.
She said that Schake was found to be particularly amenable to probation. Besides the stayed prison sentence, Schake was ordered to have no contact with anyone under the age of 18 unless he has been granted permission from his supervising agent and treatment team.
He was ordered to follow the recommendations from the psychosexual evaluation. Schake was ordered to register as a predatory offender. He was ordered to attend individual counseling or therapy sessions. He was ordered not to use or access the internet without his agent’s permission.
Schake was also ordered not to use or possess erotic, pornographic or sexually-explicit material. He was ordered not to enter parks, playgrounds or school property unless granted permission from his supervising agent. Schake was also ordered to pay a total of $460 in fees and fines.
The charges stemmed from a cyber tip reported to the Internet Crimes Against Children on Sept. 10, 2023. The Thief River Falls police investigator was assigned the possible child pornography case on Dec. 21. According to the complaint, a photo had been uploaded, apparently depicting a naked girl and naked man about to engage in sex.
The Internet Protocol address for the computer came back to Sjoberg’s Cable in Thief River Falls. The company received a subpoena and indicated the IP address was registered to Schake, who lives at 804 LaBree Ave. N. in Thief River Falls. Schake possessed 10 photos. Most, including all three for which he was sentenced, appeared to depict oral sex involving girls and males.
Other photos depicted intercourse or anal sex. One was a collage of three photos featuring the same provocatively dressed girl who is later engaged in intercourse and oral sex. The ages of the girls ranged from infant to “well under the age of 13.”
While executing the search warrant, the investigator saw a large amount of children’s toys ranging from infant to toddler toys at the home. Schake said he has grandkids, but most of the toys were from his wife’s daycare. He said she had closed her daycare after she became ill about a year earlier.
Later that day, the police investigator conducted a search warrant at Schake’s home. A laptop computer was open, and Schake planned to utilize the computer until the investigator informed him not to touch the electronics. The investigator then turned the laptop, finding it was open to a photo of a female and a naked male. It was unclear if the female or the naked male were underage.
The laptop computer also featured other tabs of images underneath the open image. As the police investigator took a photo of the image on the computer screen, Schake asked about the legality of looking at “these things” if they weren’t downloaded. After the investigator said it depended on what the person was viewing, Schakesaid “underage kids.”
During a statement, Schake admitted viewing child pornography a couple of times a week, but he said he doesn’t download the images. He said he’s the only person who has access to the computer. He denied trying to upload images and said a forensic investigator shouldn’t find any downloads unless they were made without his knowledge.
