A Hibbing man who twice admitted in state court to spying on and recording naked and partially clothed women through residential windows has now been convicted on federal child pornography charges.
A Minneapolis jury on Wednesday found Kevin James Petroske, 36, guilty of eight counts of production and attempted production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography after a three-day trial in U.S. District Court.
Authorities said they found hundreds of videos and images containing child pornography on Petroske's laptop after he was arrested when caught peering through a Hibbing window in October 2015.
Included were several surreptitiously recorded videos of nude girls as young as 14, according to court documents. Authorities said Petroske could be heard masturbating and making sexual comments about the victims in those clips, which were recorded between October 2011 and September 2015.
"Mr. Petroske preyed on vulnerable and unsuspecting victims in their homes," Assistant U.S. Attorney Manda Sertich said in a statement. "Fortunately, the jury recognized Mr. Petroske for the predator he is and returned a just result. I am grateful for the coordinated efforts of our law enforcement partners in working to achieve this successful conviction."
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Petroske will face a lengthy prison term when he appears for sentencing before U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz on Jan. 18. The charges carry a mandatory minimum of 15 years and a statutory maximum of 30 years.
Petroske was first arrested by St. Cloud police in August 2014 after a caller reported that he was staring through a neighbor's window. Police arrived on scene and caught him recording video with his cellphone.
Police then seized Petroske's phone and uncovered 39 illicit recordings of women, ranging in age from 19 to 21, who were unknown to him. He later pleaded guilty to five felonies and one gross misdemeanor count in those cases, with an additional 29 related charges dismissed in a plea agreement.
Petroske was spared prison time when a judge in Stearns County stayed a nearly six-year sentence in favor of a 20-year probationary term. He subsequently transferred his probation to Hibbing to live with his mother, according to records.
His Hibbing arrest came just five months later when a caller reported seeing Petroske staring through a woman's window at 2 a.m. The neighbor told police that Petroske stood there for about five minutes, ducking only when the woman, who was baking cookies, approached the window, according to court documents.
Petroske pleaded guilty to a felony charge of interference with privacy in that case in May. Sentencing in that case is scheduled for Sept. 14, and he still faces a probation violation stemming from the earlier convictions in Stearns County.
The federal case was the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Hibbing Police Department.
The prosecution was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat child exploitation. The program is led by local U.S. attorneys and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Department of Justice's Criminal Division.
