Austin woman is accused of producing child porn

Published 2:41 pm Saturday, April 5, 2014

AUSTIN — An Austin woman is accused of producing pornographic videos of children — one of the same crimes her husband was charged with earlier this week.

Deborah Susan Edge, 36, was charged Thursday in Mower County District Court with four counts of using a minor in a sexual performance/pornographic work.

Deborah Edge

Deborah Edge

Deborah’s husband, Anthony, was charged Monday with one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of using a minor in a sexual performance/pornographic work.

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The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Austin police and Mower County deputies raided the Edges’ house on March 27. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children alerted the BCA earlier this month about child pornography on the chat website Omegle.

Later, BCA agents found a different video of Deborah with a naked elementary-aged child in a bathroom, according to court documents. At one point, Deborah gives a sign with what appears to be an online avatar name to the victim and has the victim talk on a phone. No sound was found on the video, according to the complaint.

Authorities found another image of Deborah naked from the waist down and holding a pornographic image of an infant.

Deborah admitted to being in both the video and the photo, according to the complaint. She also told police she knew Anthony was sending the video to someone else, but denied knowing she held a pornographic image of an infant in the photo. She said Anthony had her put on a blindfold when he took the photo.

 

Anthony’s charges

Anthony was charged after Omegle tracked the original video chat, which took place on a live feed on Feb. 22, and captured 26 images of an elementary age girl performing sexual acts with an adult male, according to a court complaint.

Anthony Edge

Anthony Edge

Authorities tracked the video’s IP address to the Edge home in Austin.

Police found two computers at the Edge house and a Logitech web camera, the type of camera Omegle staff believe was used to produce the video. Officers also found metal blinds in Anthony’s room, similar to those shown in the video.

According to the complaint, police also found recordings of a teenage girl showering. Officers found pinhole cameras inside the house and interviewed a victim, who was unaware she had been recorded.

Anthony previously registered as a sex offender after he was convicted in 2006 of possessing nude pictures of minors. He was originally charged in 2004 after police found about 2,300 images of child pornography on computer he left behind at a former residence.

Deborah posted bail, but Anthony is still in police custody, according to officials.

Deborah’s next court appearance is April 17. Anthony’s next scheduled court appearance is April 10.