The former pastor of a Cottage Grove church pleaded guilty in federal court this past week to distribution of child pornography, a deal that will result in a harsher sentence than he might have faced in state court.
William Leonard Helker, 47, reached an agreement March 9 with prosecutors in U.S. District Court. Helker pleaded guilty to one count of foreign distribution of child pornography involving an image of a pubescent boy and prepubescent girls. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 27; the penalty will include a minimum five-year prison sentence.
Helker, who had served as associate pastor at All Saints Lutheran Church, was arrested in October 2016 after state authorities found evidence he had exchanged child porn with a man in Helsinki, Finland.
Investigators linked Helker to the case through a Facebook profile, which included an All Saints email address that was used in the international porn exchange. Investigators found evidence of pornography involving children as young as 5 years old.
Upon Helker’s arrest, All Saints quickly placed him on administrative leave and then dismissed him. The church issued a statement that in part asked for “prayers for all affected.”
Authorities executed search warrants at the church and at Helker’s home in Pine City, about 75 miles north of Cottage Grove. There they found a laptop with 120 gigabytes of data, most of which appeared to be child pornography images and videos.
The federal court plea agreement notes that Helker had 900 child porn images and 300 child porn videos in his possession, and that he created “sexually explicit collages” with superimposed photos of four known juveniles.
Helker’s attorney in the federal case, Marsh Halberg, said at least one of those minors was believed to be a child from the All Saints congregation.
About a week after Helker’s arrest last fall, he was transferred to federal custody as U.S. prosecutors filed their case against him.
Six child porn charges were held against Helker in state court until Friday, when Pine County Attorney Reese Frederickson dismissed them in light of the federal plea agreement.
Fredrickson called Helker’s crime “pretty egregious.” He said in a case like Helker’s, state sentencing guidelines call for seven years of probation with the possibility of a 24-month prison sentence if probation conditions are violated.
“I don’t think that Minnesota state law would adequately deal with this individual,” Frederickson said, adding: “This guy should be locked up a long time.”
The minimum penalty for the federal crime is five years in prison.
Halberg said there is a disagreement with federal prosecutors over how the sentencing guidelines were calculated in Helker’s case. Defense believes the range is 10 to 12 years of prison time. Prosecutors assert the guidelines in Helker’s case are 17 years to 21 years imprisonment. A judge will determine the sentencing.
Halberg said he will argue for a lower sentence than 10 years, calling Helker a “very pleasant man” who was remorseful in the courtroom.
“He’s quickly accepted responsibility,” Halberg said, adding that Helker will explain himself at his sentencing hearing.