{"id":39797,"date":"2026-08-04T09:47:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T14:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=39797"},"modified":"2026-08-01T19:04:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T00:04:27","slug":"fargo-ex-deputy-loses-child-abuse-material-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/fargo-ex-deputy-loses-child-abuse-material-appeal\/","title":{"rendered":"Fargo Ex-Deputy Loses Child Abuse Material Appeal"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Fargo Ex-Deputy Loses Child Abuse Material Appeal<\/h2>\n

FARGO, N.D.<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 The North Dakota Supreme Court has upheld Carson Quam\u2019s conviction on five counts.<\/p>\n

Quam is a former Cass County Sheriff\u2019s Office deputy. He was convicted of possessing child sexual abuse material.<\/p>\n

The court issued its decision on July 23, 2026. Justices rejected Quam\u2019s challenge to the search of his home.<\/p>\n

Court Rejects Search Warrant Challenge<\/h2>\n

Quam argued investigators lacked probable cause. He also claimed the warrant did not connect possible evidence to his residence.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court disagreed. It ruled Quam\u2019s statements gave the issuing judge a strong basis for the warrant.<\/p>\n

Court records show Quam spoke with state investigators in September 2024. He admitted using a TOR browser to hide online activity.<\/p>\n

Quam said he searched for sexual content involving girls he believed were 15 or 16 years old.<\/p>\n

He also admitted viewing similar websites through a television in his basement.<\/p>\n

Investigators later examined Quam\u2019s work-issued phone. They found no sign that a TOR browser had been installed.<\/p>\n

That finding suggested another device was used for the hidden browsing.<\/p>\n

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

The court said the full circumstances supported probable cause. Quam\u2019s statements also tied the suspected activity to his home.<\/p>\n

The ruling affirmed a lower court\u2019s decision denying Quam\u2019s request to suppress evidence from the search.<\/p>\n

Prison and Probation Sentence Remains<\/h2>\n

Quam entered a conditional guilty plea in December 2025. That plea allowed him to challenge the suppression ruling on appeal.<\/p>\n

Cass County District Court Judge Daniel Narum sentenced Quam in March 2026.<\/p>\n

Quam received 18 months in prison. The sentence will be followed by three years of supervised probation.<\/p>\n

He must also register as a sex offender. He was ordered to complete sex offender treatment.<\/p>\n

Before sentencing, Quam apologized for violating public trust.<\/p>\n

He described his conduct as \u201cnegligent, disgusting, grotesque, and heinous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Narum said child sexual abuse material causes continuing harm. Victims are harmed again whenever images or videos are viewed.<\/p>\n

The judge said demand for the material helps sustain its production. That demand contributes to the continued abuse of children.<\/p>\n

The Cass County Sheriff\u2019s Office said Quam left the agency during the investigation.<\/p>\n

Official Resources<\/h2>\n

The decision appears on the North Dakota Supreme Court opinion list<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Information about state investigators is available through the North Dakota Attorney General\u2019s Office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Suspected online child exploitation can be reported through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’m Adrian Cole reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 TRF News. All rights reserved.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North Dakota\u2019s Supreme Court upheld Carson Quam\u2019s conviction, ruling his admissions supported the warrant used to search his Fargo-area home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41567,"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":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_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":[3102,756,4494,22131,757,13592,901,7445,3098],"class_list":["post-39797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-carson-quam","tag-cass-county","tag-child-sexual-abuse-material","tag-criminal-appeal","tag-fargo-news","tag-former-deputy","tag-north-dakota-courts","tag-north-dakota-supreme-court","tag-search-warrant","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39797","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=39797"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41566,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39797\/revisions\/41566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}