A 31-year-old man convicted of possessing child pornography has been captured after escaping from custody at the St. Peter Regional Treatment Center during an outing in Mankato, officials said.
Convicted sex offender caught after fleeing during outing from St. Peter security hospital
The patient "is mentally ill and dangerous," according to a statement by Mankato police.
August 26, 2022 at 9:29PM
Jesse N. Rowland, 31, was on a supervised group outing Thursday afternoon at the River Hills Mall, 1850 Adams St., and had not been seen since 2 p.m., according to Mankato police.
"Rowland is a court-committed patient at [the treatment center] and is mentally ill and dangerous," a statement from police read.
A Mankato spokeswoman Amy Holst said about 8:45 a.m. Friday that "Rowland was taken into custody by law enforcement and placed in the care of the Minnesota Department of Human Services for return to the hospital." Holst offered no further information about Rowland's capture.
Rowland of Moorhead was convicted of five counts of possessing child pornography in December 2020 in Clay County District Court. The charges said he possessed more than 22,000 computer files of suspected child pornography involving children as young as 4 years old.
His sentence included participating in all programs and treatments at the security hospital.
The treatment center is operated by human services and is Minnesota's largest psychiatric facility. It also is home to the state sex offender treatment program.
The governor said it may be 2027 or 2028 by the time the market catches up to demand.
