Owatonna Sex Offender Sentenced for Murder Plot of Child Porn Victim

Minneapolis, MN (KROC-AM News)- An Owatonna man has received his punishment for a guilty plea in a federal case that began as a child pornography investigation. 

Read More: Owatonna Man Admits to Charges Connected to Chilling Murder Plot 

31-year-old  Michael Lee Kurkowski entered a plea agreement in February in which he admitted to one count of threatening interstate communication and one count of production of child pornography. 

Federal court documents say the case stems from an investigation launched by authorities in Pennsylvania in March 2021 concerning the exchange of sexually explicit images of a minor. 

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Investigators learned Kurkowski had traveled to Pennsylvania in an effort to find the child after the victim attempted to break off online communications with him. 

Pennsylvania court records indicate he was charged with multiple felony offenses involving the sexual exploitation of a minor and was sentenced to 142 days in prison. 

Later that year, court documents say authorities began investigating Kurkowski's online communications with another minor. 

As part of the investigation, investigators reviewed several messages from Kurkowski to the victim that included graphic descriptions of a plan to visit Pennsylvania to murder the parents and sister of his former victim after first raping the sister in front of him. 

The federal charges state that the Owatonna man was intercepted and arrested by the FBI in Toledo Ohio in February 2022 after investigators found out that he had purchased a Greyhound bus ticket to Harrisburg Pennsylvania. 

The FBI reported that Kurkowski was in the possession of a bag that contained 16 heavy flex cuffs, electrical tape, a Taser, a knife, rubber gloves, handcuffs, and hooded facemasks. 

A news release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Minnesota Thursday says Kurkowski was sentenced to 30 years in prison. His time behind bars will be followed by a 15-year term of supervised release.

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