Overview
- A Washington County criminal complaint filed Thursday says 34-year-old deputy Chadd William Muellner faces two counts of engaging in electronic communication relating to sexual conduct with a child.
- Investigators with the East Metro Human Trafficking Task Force used undercover KIK profiles that portrayed a 15-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy and say the account 'midwestguy0303' sent more than 500 messages and 78 media files during a short March exchange.
- Police traced the KIK account to an email and phone number linked to Muellner, interviewed his parents to confirm the number, and say he initially denied involvement before admitting he factory-reset his phone because he was panicked.
- Authorities seized Muellner’s phones, reviewed jail calls for related activity, and the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office has placed him on administrative leave while it conducts an internal investigation and criminal proceedings move forward.
- The case highlights how anonymous messaging apps like KIK can be used to target minors and shows how regional task forces create undercover profiles to detect and gather digital evidence of online child exploitation.