Hibbing Man Used App to Send Child Sexual Abuse Material, Charges Allege

HIBBING, Minn. – Law enforcement say they found “unused children’s underwear” and “a bouncy house,” when searching the home of a Hibbing man charged with sharing explicit videos of minors on a messaging app.

On Friday, 45-year-old Joshua John Eckstrom of Hibbing was charged with nine felony counts for disseminating CSAM over the messaging app ‘Kik.’

The investigation into Eckstrom was initiated when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received a CyberTip from Kik. The tip identified possible CSAM, specifically videos, on accounts that were registered to Eckstrom.

The NCMEC shared Eckstrom’s account information and IP address with the Minnesota BCA, who subsequently shared it with the Hibbing Police. Investigators processed the information provided by Kik and identified multiple videos shared from the accounts as recently as Feb. 3.

Hibbing Police arrested Eckstrom on Wednesday, Feb. 26, at his place of employment. During an interview, Eckstrom admitted to owning the Kik accounts. Eckstrom told investigators he had sent and received videos but “It’s not like I was taking the pictures or anything like that. It was just being shared through a chat room.”

When investigators asked why he sent the videos, Eckstrom said, “Everything is a fantasy, made up. You think you’re anonymous using nothing but a username as your mask… Nothing on there was real.”

While Eckstrom stated he does not have children, a search of his home found, “small unused children’s underwear in (his) bottom nightstand drawer. They also discovered a bouncy house, with two portable air pumps.”