Warrant Issued for Rochester Man in Child Pornography Case
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - An arrest warrant has been issued for a Rochester man who was previously charged with using cryptocurrency to purchase child sexual abuse material.
Warrant issued after missed court hearing
The warrant was issued after 31-year-old Glen Venter failed to appear for a required hearing in Olmsted County District Court last week. He was released without bail in late April after being charged with a single count of possession of child pornography. Court records show that the criminal complaint against Venter was amended in June to include two additional counts of the same crime.
READ MORE: Rochester Man Accused of Using Cryptocurrency to Purchase Child Pornography
Accused of using crypto currency to purchase child pornography
According to the charges, a search warrant was executed at Venter’s Rochester residence on April 28 after Rochester police received information that he owned a Coinbase account that had been used to make “dark web” purchases of child sexual abuse material in early February. The court document states that Venter admitted to investigators that he had been viewing child sexual abuse material for more than 10 years and had used his cryptocurrency account to purchase sexually explicit material involving children.
Subject of previous cyber tips
During the investigation, the criminal complaint says Rochester police learned that Venter was the subject of three cyber tips involving child sexual abuse material submitted by Facebook in 2022 and 2024. Those tips were traced to an account based in South Africa. Additional cyber tips from Google and Snapchat were linked to accounts in Rochester.
Moved to Rochester from South Africa
The court document says Venter told police that he and his family moved to the Rochester area in September 2025 after relocating from South Africa.
Investigators reported finding hundreds of videos and images
The amended criminal complaint against Venter says electronic devices seized from his home during the search contained approximately 200 images and videos of child sexual abuse material, including depictions of children as young as infants being sexually assaulted. The court document says one of the videos depicted a close relative of Venter’s sexually assaulting an infant boy.
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