{"id":11285,"date":"2026-01-19T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=11285"},"modified":"2026-01-18T12:07:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T18:07:14","slug":"no-internet-for-man-accused-of-electronic-solicitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/no-internet-for-man-accused-of-electronic-solicitation\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;No Internet&#8221; for Man Accused of Electronic Solicitation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Thief River Falls, Pennington County (<a href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\">trfnews.i234.me<\/a>)<\/strong> \u2014 Erick Sean Hartung, 26, faces a felony charge.<\/p>\n<p>Hartung is charged with electronic solicitation of a minor. The charge is listed under Minnesota Statute 609.352, subdivision 2a(1).<\/p>\n<h2>Case basics<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Offense date:<\/strong> January 13, 2026.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Date filed:<\/strong> January 13, 2026.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Location listed:<\/strong> Thief River Falls.<\/li>\n<li><strong>County:<\/strong> Pennington County.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What court records show<\/h2>\n<p>Court records filed in Pennington County list the charge and the first court date. The record comes from the Register of Actions.<\/p>\n<p>The summary does not include a public statement of probable cause. That filing can explain the alleged messages.<\/p>\n<p>The investigation is listed as handled by the Pennington County Sheriff\u2019s Office. The agency shares public information online.<\/p>\n<p>See: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.penningtonsheriff.org\/\">Pennington County Sheriff\u2019s Office website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Release conditions ordered<\/h2>\n<p>Hartung made a first court appearance on January 13, 2026. Judge Michael P. Grover set strict release conditions.<\/p>\n<p>The judge allowed release with no cash deposit if the conditions are followed. The judge also set a $50,000 non-cash bond option.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>No internet use.<\/li>\n<li>No social media use.<\/li>\n<li>No contact with anyone under 18.<\/li>\n<li>No alcohol or controlled substance use.<\/li>\n<li>Random testing is allowed.<\/li>\n<li>No firearms possession.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10710\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10710\" style=\"width: 287px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10710\" src=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Erick-Sean-Hartung-287x300.png\" alt=\"Erick Sean Hartung\" width=\"287\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Erick-Sean-Hartung-287x300.png 287w, https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Erick-Sean-Hartung.png 472w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 287px) 100vw, 287px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10710\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Erick Sean Hartung<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>About the charge<\/h2>\n<p>Minnesota law bars some adults from soliciting minors for sexual conduct. The law also covers electronic communication.<\/p>\n<p>The court record summary does not list the app or website involved. More details may appear in later filings.<\/p>\n<p>Hartung is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. A charge is an accusation, not a conviction.<\/p>\n<h2>Next court date<\/h2>\n<p>An omnibus hearing is scheduled for March 9, 2026. The hearing can address motions, evidence, and scheduling.<\/p>\n<p>Readers can review the law and court rules online. Public case searches are also available through MCRO.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.revisor.mn.gov\/statutes\/cite\/609.352\">Read Minnesota Statute 609.352<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mncourts.gov\/access-case-records\/mcro\">Search Minnesota Court Records Online (MCRO)<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.revisor.mn.gov\/court_rules\/cr\/id\/11\/\">See Rule 11 on omnibus hearings<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I\u2019m Chris Harper reporting for <a href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\">TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thief River Falls, Pennington County (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 Erick Sean Hartung, 26, faces a felony charge. Hartung is charged with electronic solicitation of a minor. The charge is listed under Minnesota Statute 609.352, subdivision 2a(1). Case basics Offense date: January 13, 2026. Date filed: January 13, 2026. Location listed: Thief River Falls. County: Pennington County. What&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/no-internet-for-man-accused-of-electronic-solicitation\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">&#8220;No Internet&#8221; for Man Accused of Electronic Solicitation<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[8224,1065,772,10107,9471,9470,1194,52,10108,9967,151,3245,1025,9473,8952,9964,9965,9966,777,4315,10106,778,786],"class_list":["post-11285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-no","tag-accused","tag-crime","tag-electronic","tag-electronic-solicitation-of-a-minor","tag-erick-sean-hartung","tag-felony-charge","tag-for","tag-internet","tag-judge-michael-p-grover","tag-man","tag-mcro","tag-minnesota-court-records","tag-minnesota-statute-609-352","tag-no-contact-with-minors","tag-no-internet-order","tag-no-social-media","tag-omnibus-hearing","tag-pennington-county","tag-pennington-county-sheriffs-office","tag-solicitation","tag-thief-river-falls","tag-trf-news","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11285"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11480,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11285\/revisions\/11480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}