Charges: Worker admits taking sexually explicit photos of girls at Minneapolis church day care

A day-care worker at a Twin Cities church was charged Wednesday with taking sexually explicit photos of children with his cellphone while they were in the bathroom and possessing videos not associated with the church of children engaging in sex acts, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday.

Eric Phillip Allen, 39, of Minneapolis was charged in Hennepin County District Court with possessing pornography in connection with more than 1,200 images on his phone.

The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) said in a statement that its agents acted on a tip and searched Allen’s home and found suspected child sexual abuse material that included “nude images [that] were captured at the childcare facility.”

The agents are working with the Minneapolis facility to identify the victims and notify the parents, the agency added. Officials have not disclosed the facility, but it was identified by a church official as Mount Carmel Lutheran on St. Anthony Parkway in Minneapolis.

Allen was arrested Monday, then briefly released Wednesday before charges were filed less than two hours later. A BCA spokeswoman said he was taken back into custody a short time later and is now being held in Hennepin County Jail.

The BCA is asking that anyone with information about this investigation to contact the agency at 651-793-7000.

According to the complaint:

In April 2023, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received several cyber tips with hundreds of files showing child sexual abuse. Law enforcement determined that Allen was an authorized user of the phone.

A BCA agent reviewed some of the files contained in one of the tips and saw two videos with children being sexually exploited. The agent searched Allen’s phone and found more than 1,200 similar images.

Allen told law enforcement Friday that he has worked at the church day care for more than a year. He explained that images of children on his phone “were a result of viruses,” the complaint read.

He did admit to having photos of girls from the day care on his phone. He provided their names and said he took the photos while the girls were in the bathroom.