A Blooming Prairie resident, Steven John Sokel, has been sentenced to 210 months in prison for the international sexual exploitation of children. This was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick.
Court documents reveal that starting in April 2022, Sokel communicated online with the mother of a minor victim in Thailand. He traveled to Thailand on September 1, 2022, and stayed with the victim and her mother for nearly a month. During this period, Sokel produced images of the minor engaging in sexually explicit activities.
On September 29, 2022, Sokel left Thailand and had a layover at Abu Dhabi International Airport in the United Arab Emirates. The airport features a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) preclearance facility for passengers heading to the United States. CBP officers discovered items such as sexual pleasure devices, handcuffs, and condoms in his luggage during their search. They also found child sexual abuse material on his password-protected laptop.
Sokel was sentenced by Judge Eric T. Tostrud in U.S. District Court on one count of sexual exploitation of children.
The investigation was carried out by Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Campbell Warner prosecuted the case.