Minnesota
Centreville man indicted on federal child exploitation charges in Minnesota – WTOP News
According to court documents, Raymond Jung Woo Choi began messaging the 13/14-year-old girl on social media apps between November of 2023 and February of 2024.
A man from Centreville, Virginia, is under arrest after police say he coerced a teenager in Minnesota to send sexually explicit photographs of herself to him and then tried to meet her in person.
Raymond Jung Woo Choi, 41, was arrested in Fairfax City on Monday after a grand jury indicted him on one count of production of child pornography, one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of coercion and enticement of a minor.
According to court documents, Choi began messaging the 13/14-year-old girl on social media apps between November of 2023 and February of 2024 using an alias of “Jason Lee.”
Prosecutors said Choi knew the victim was a minor and in middle school when he messaged her. They claim Choi would convince the girl to send him the photos and in return provide gifts, which he either sent via Amazon or mailed through the U.S. Postal Service to her home.
In January, while waiting for more photos of the victim, Choi is accused of sending her a message about meeting in person.
The message Choi is accused of sending to the victim reads: “Ugh I wish I could just visit u. And record our own. Problem solved.”
Choi, according to prosecutors, boarded a plane in February and flew to Minnesota with the intention of meeting the victim — but that meeting never happened because of “family and law enforcement intervention,” court documents stated.
Choi then flew back to Virginia, where he was arrested this month. He remains behind bars in the Commonwealth as he awaits transportation to Minnesota to face the charges there.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota said the case was part of what it called part of “Project Safe Childhood” — an initiative aimed at identifying and rescuing victims of exploitation and prosecuting those responsible.
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Minnesota
Guardians care for some of Minnesota’s most vulnerable adults. But they lack proper oversight and training.
Yet, there is inadequate oversight, nonexistent training, limited accountability and few consequences when any of the state’s 41,000 guardians fail to meet their responsibilities, according to a new report released Wednesday by the state Legislative Auditor.
Minnesota also doesn’t adequately ensure that guardians are appointed only when appropriate, said Caitlin Badger, who managed the evaluation for the Office of the Legislative Auditor, a nonpartisan office that audits state government.
The result, she said, is a system in dire need of increased attention and improvement.
“Given the magnitude of issues we identified throughout our research, we believe that it’s time for the Legislature to take some substantial steps to bolster the administration and oversight of adult guardianship in the state,” Badger told members of the Legislative Audit Commission in St. Paul.
First, Badger said, the Legislature should establish a centralized “entity” to administer and monitor guardianships. Currently, such work falls to each of 10 judicial districts, which take different approaches and dedicate varying amounts of staff time.
“Moving guardianships under a single entity will help the state to unify the responsibility for ensuring the proper performance of staff,” she said. “It’ll help reduce the number of staff working on guardianship and hopefully improve accountability and consistency within the system overall.”
For example, she said, the Legislature could consider centralizing this work within the state court administrator’s office. One way to do this is setting up a separate board within the judicial branch.
The Minnesota Department of Health announced layoffs and reductions in public health services on Tuesday due to cuts in federal funding.
The agency issued layoffs and separation notices to 170 employees whose positions were supported by federal grants that have now been terminated. Additionally, offers have been rescinded for 20 new hires.
Notices will also be given to other staff members who are at risk of layoffs, affecting approximately 300 employees in total within the health department.
The layoffs and separations result from an unexpected decision by the federal government last week to cut more than $220 million in previously approved funding for the health department.
“We are working now to figure out how much of this critical public health work we can save and continue,” Dr. Brooke Cunningham, the Minnesota commissioner of health, said in a statement.
The Minnesota Department of Health said that several services and programs across the agency will be affected by the layoffs, including the state’s efforts in response to measles and bird flu, wastewater surveillance, community clinics and vaccination initiatives. The cuts will also limit support for nursing homes and reduce funding for tribal public health services.
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