{"id":22661,"date":"2026-03-20T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=22661"},"modified":"2026-03-20T05:40:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T10:40:56","slug":"fargo-ex-deputy-gets-18-month-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/fargo-ex-deputy-gets-18-month-sentence\/","title":{"rendered":"Fargo: Ex-Deputy Gets 18-Month Sentence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fargo<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me)<\/a> \u2014 Former Cass County sheriff\u2019s deputy Carson Theodore Quam<\/strong> has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. The sentence follows his guilty plea to five counts involving child sex abuse material.<\/p>\n

Judge Daniel Narum handed down the sentence on Wednesday, March 18, in Cass County District Court. Quam, 27, of McHenry, North Dakota, pleaded guilty in December. Five other counts were dismissed.<\/p>\n

Judge Orders Immediate Custody<\/h2>\n

The judge also ordered Quam into custody on Monday. That move rejected part of the plea deal. The agreement would have let him stay free during a likely appeal.<\/p>\n

In court, Narum said children shown in these files are harmed twice. They are harmed when the files are created. They are harmed again when the files are viewed.<\/p>\n

Court records said Quam possessed the files from September 2021 through September 2024. The material showed children between ages 2 and 14. Investigators found hundreds of files on a cellphone, a USB drive, and a television.<\/p>\n

Case Reached Into Law Enforcement<\/h2>\n

Quam worked for most of that period as a deputy in Cass County. The Cass County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/a> hired him as a patrol officer in December 2022. He resigned on Sept. 17, 2024, as investigators examined the allegations.<\/p>\n

Charges were filed in early December 2024. The case was handled outside the usual local process. The Cass County State\u2019s Attorney\u2019s Office declared a conflict. All Cass County judges also recused themselves.<\/p>\n

Assistant Grand Forks County State\u2019s Attorney Megan Kvasager Essig prosecuted the case. Narum, a Richland County judge, presided over the matter.<\/p>\n

\"Carson
Carson Theodore Quam<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Defense Seeks Appeal<\/h2>\n

Defense attorney Luke Heck asked for a shorter sentence. He said Quam had no criminal history. He also said Quam sought treatment for mental health issues and accepted responsibility.<\/p>\n

Quam apologized to his family, friends, local residents, and law enforcement agencies. He said he broke public trust and deserved punishment for his actions.<\/p>\n

Quam is expected to appeal a ruling on the search warrant used in the case. Narum denied a motion in June that sought to suppress that evidence. Readers can follow public court records through the North Dakota Court System<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a release, the sheriff\u2019s office said the case was painful for the community and the victims. It also thanked investigators with the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation<\/a> for their work.<\/p>\n

I’m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fargo (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 Former Cass County sheriff\u2019s deputy Carson Theodore Quam has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. The sentence follows his guilty plea to five counts involving child sex abuse material. Judge Daniel Narum handed down the sentence on Wednesday, March 18, in Cass County District Court. Quam, 27, of McHenry, North Dakota,… Continue reading Fargo: Ex-Deputy Gets 18-Month Sentence<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2761,"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":[15334,2028,15323,767,10725,2449,15325,1122,768,772,1855,3182,769,757,15324,1579,912,3183,1578,1198,15249,2079,3891,794],"class_list":["post-22661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-18-month","tag-abuse","tag-carson-theodore-quam","tag-cass","tag-cass-county-news","tag-cass-county-sheriff","tag-child-sex-abuse-material-case","tag-child","tag-county","tag-crime","tag-deputy","tag-ex-deputy","tag-fargo","tag-fargo-news","tag-former-deputy-sentenced","tag-gets","tag-inforum","tag-material","tag-months","tag-north-dakota-court","tag-possessing","tag-prison","tag-sentence","tag-sex","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22661","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=22661"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22827,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22661\/revisions\/22827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}