Minnesota man gets 30 years for sending porn to boy, threatening to kill one of his victims

A Minnesota man has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for producing sexually explicit images and sending them to a boy, plotting to kill one of his victims and his family, and then traveling hundreds of miles with the tools to do so.

Michael Lee Kurkowski, 28, of Owatonna was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis after pleading guilty on the first day of his trial in February to sending threatening interstate communication and producing child pornography.

Judge Joan N. Ericksen cited “the raw facts of danger” when handing down the sentence, which includes 15 years’ supervised release.

According to the charges:

In March 2021, an 18-year-old in Cumberland County, Pa., told police that Kurkowski had for several years exchanged nude images with him when he was a minor and had refused his desire to end their online “relationship.”

Later that month, Kurkowski was seen at the young man’s workplace and later admitted to police that he went to Pennsylvania to find him and continue a relationship. He said he knew the young man’s age and admitted exchanging pornographic videos of each other.

Kurkowski was charged in Pennsylvania with felonies the following April, convicted of corruption of a minor and sentenced to less than five months in prison. He also was required to register as a sex offender.

On Dec. 31, 2021, a woman told police in Peoria, Ill., that her 16-year-old nephew had been sending sexual photographs online to a man who identified himself as Kurkowski. She said the nephew told her that a 13-year-old friend in Iowa also had been sending naked photographs of himself to Kurkowski.

The woman said Kurkowski had texted her nephew about plans to kill his Pennsylvania victim, rape the boy’s sister and kill the victim’s family “in various tortured ways” for “ruining his life and turning him in to the authorities,” according to a criminal complaint.

Owatonna police went to the home of Kurkowski’s grandmother in February 2022, regarding a threats complaint involving Kurkowski. The grandmother told investigators that Kurkowski, who had been allowed to live at the home while on probation, spoke of wanting to kill prior boyfriends and their families.

The FBI tracked Kurkowski to a bus stop in Toledo, Ohio, and arrested him. In his luggage, agents found 16 heavy flex cuffs, electrical tape, a bottle of lubrication, a Taser, a large knife, rubber gloves, hooded facemasks and a list of names.

Kurkowski admitted to FBI agents that he planned to travel to the victim’s residence in Pennsylvania. He said he had thoughts of harming the young man and his family but was unsure whether he would follow through. He told agents he felt the young man had betrayed him by breaking up.

Staff writer Stephen Montemayor contributed to this story.