Caledonia man sentenced to 90 days for possessing child sexual abuse material

Mark Wasson, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
·2 min read

Sep. 6—ROCHESTER — A 58-year-old Caledonia man was ordered to serve 90 days in jail following a hearing in Olmsted County District Court on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023.

Kevin James Hammell pleaded guilty earlier this year to three felony counts of possessing pornographic work of a minor under 14 years old in exchange for the dismissal of two similar felony charges.

Hammell's plea deal called for a maximum 60-day jail sentence provided Judge Joseph Chase granted a downward departure in the case. Chase did not grant that departure and ordered Hammell to report to the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center within 90 days to serve his three-monthslong sentence.

He was also ordered to successfully complete a sex offender program, not access the internet without approval, have no unsupervised contact with children and register as a predatory offender.

Hammell will be able to serve his sentence under work or treatment release.

According to the criminal complaint:

The Rochester Police Department began investigating Hammell on March 7, 2023, after Adobe notified them of 20 suspected images of child sexual abuse material.

The Adobe subscriber email identified Hammell as the account holder.

Police questioned Hammell on March 30, 2023, during a traffic stop where he initially denied viewing child sexual abuse material to an investigator but later said he could have stumbled across it. Hammell said he used a Tor browser on his computer, which can help users mask their identity by assigning different IP addresses each time it is used.

Law enforcement found several electronic devices in his home that contained more than 1,100 files of child sexual abuse material following a search warrant of his residence.

After the investigator confronted Hammell with the child sexual abuse material found on Hammell's electronic devices, Hammell said he had been dealing with the issue for a year and had tried to stop.

The child sexual abuse material law enforcement found was mostly of girls between 5 and 10 years old. Of the images found, 15 of the children had been previously identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.