MN - Football coach Todd Hoffner charged with using own children in sex videos

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The Details Of Minnesota State Head Football Coach Todd Hoffner’s Child *advertiser censored* Charges Are Horrifying (Deadspin)
Minnesota State head football coach Todd Hoffner's been charged formally with felony counts of using his own children in a sexual performance and possession of child *advertiser censored*, and the details outlined in the charges are unpleasant to read. The videos, featuring three children under the age of ten, were allegedly found on Hoffner's school-issued phone when a university employee attempted to back it up or repair it. From Mankato's Free Press:

A one-minute video created on June 26 showed the three children, one boy and two girls, with their backs to the camera and covered by towels, the complaint said. They drop the towels and turn toward the camera, exposing themselves. The boy allegedly fondles himself and the girls allegedly bend over and expose their anuses to the camera.

A much shorter video showed the girls dancing naked before the boy enters wearing only a football helmet, according to the complaint. The third video, about two minutes long, allegedly shows one of girls being woken at night by a male and told to go to the bathroom. After the girl gets up, the camera focuses in on the back side of her underwear, the complaint said.
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more at the Deadspin link above, and here:

Charges filed against MSU coach Hoffner (Mankato Free Press)
 
yeah, the atty says that there is nothing sexual about the videos described in the article! wtf? throw his azz in prison too ...
 
O Lordy!!! WTH is wrong with people? That is so disgusting! :banghead:
 
yeah, the atty says that there is nothing sexual about the videos described in the article! wtf? throw his azz in prison too ...

Yeah... Maybe then this lawyer would like this coach to spend some alone time with the lawyer's own kids...

And take some of the very same "not sexual" pix with them! :waitasec:
 
A crisp "no comment" would have served the defense better at this time, I would agree.
 
http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.town...7b-0019bb2963f4/5035bb29087c8.preview-300.jpg


Dare I ask if there's a Mrs. Hoffner? Annnnnnnd a naked boy wearing only a football helmet? Really?:what:


Oh there is a Mrs. and she's a school counselor/therapist.
I just watched a video of her making a statement and she seems very genuine when she says they were innocent home videos. As for her being a school counselor...

She described their children as close knit, open, engaging, and creative. "I am a licensed school counselor and I am fully aware of the signs and indicators of children who have been abused," she said. "I assure you our children have not been exploited or abused -- they are healthy physically, mentally and emotionally; and have normal relationships with friends, family and teachers."

http://www.startribune.com/local/167557495.html?refer=y

The above link has the video of her speaking if anyone wants to watch it.
 
I just watched a video of her making a statement and she seems very genuine when she says they were innocent home videos. As for her being a school counselor...

She described their children as close knit, open, engaging, and creative. "I am a licensed school counselor and I am fully aware of the signs and indicators of children who have been abused," she said. "I assure you our children have not been exploited or abused -- they are healthy physically, mentally and emotionally; and have normal relationships with friends, family and teachers."

http://www.startribune.com/local/167557495.html?refer=y

The above link has the video of her speaking if anyone wants to watch it.

I believe there are innocent pics and videos of children naked taken by parents who never thought twice about it being "sexual". Babies, toddlers getting a bath, getting dressed or just having just escaped thier diapers and clothing (like my kids did, lol) and innocent parents who grabbed their cameras to catch the cutest pic ever. Most of us have pictures like this that we treasure.

I don't know if naked pictures of a child over the age of toddler is appropriate to anyone else but I don't think it is. Now 15 years ago I would have thought that if people had pics of their kids naked it was no big deal as long as it was of thier own kids because who would hurt thier own children?

Sadly, I've learned that many people are evil even to thier own children, and if this guy was charged Im confident that LE saw more to the pics than just a father catching a streaking 1 year old. Naked siblings together that were the age of these kids, a boy fondling himself, and girls bent over doesn't sound so innocent IMO. But thats just me
 
I believe there are innocent pics and videos of children naked taken by parents who never thought twice about it being "sexual". Babies, toddlers getting a bath, getting dressed or just having just escaped thier diapers and clothing (like my kids did, lol) and innocent parents who grabbed their cameras to catch the cutest pic ever. Most of us have pictures like this that we treasure.

I don't know if naked pictures of a child over the age of toddler is appropriate to anyone else but I don't think it is. Now 15 years ago I would have thought that if people had pics of their kids naked it was no big deal as long as it was of thier own kids because who would hurt thier own children?

Sadly, I've learned that many people are evil even to thier own children, and if this guy was charged Im confident that LE saw more to the pics than just a father catching a streaking 1 year old. Naked siblings together that were the age of these kids, a boy fondling himself, and girls bent over doesn't sound so innocent IMO. But thats just me

No, it's not just you. I agree with everything you said.

My girls are 14 months and 5 years. They spend a lot of time on the front porch in the kiddy pool. My 5 yr old is usually in her panties and the baby in a diaper. I always have my camera phone with me but I NEVER take any photos of my 5 yr old like that, only the baby. With the way the world is today, you just can’t chance it. 1st I don’t want her half naked photos to end up in any pedophiles hands and 2nd it isn’t worth loosing either child because of truly innocent photos.
 
I believe those videos are innocent family pictures for family use only. Don't you think if they were meant to be child *advertiser censored* that he would have deleted them before taking the phone to a college IT???? I know we seem to have an epidemic of child *advertiser censored*, sexual abuse, incest, engendered by the Informaton Highway, but normal, ordinary people take naked pictures of their children and mean no harm by it.

Well meaning people who have seen way too much of the nasty side of life, made a faulty decision here, IMO.

(snipped)from the Star Tribune link above.

Melodee Hoffner offered an explanation for the video showing her daughter walking to the bathroom, saying that the girl has "difficulty during the night," so she and her husband wake her to use the bathroom. Hoffner said the daughter would be half-asleep when they woke her and would not remember, so the parents took video to show her. Melodee Hoffner said her daughter was clothed in that video.

No other images or evidence has so far been found other than that on the phone.

This is my opinion and I'm sticking to it unless I see a lot more evidence to prove guilt. :moo:
 
I don't really know what exactly to think with the info we've been give. I think his wife is probably sincere when she says that she doesn't believe anything inappropriate happened. And I think her job as a school counselor is in the family's favor.

I did notice that in her statement that she only talked about the video where her daughter was clothed, though. She didn't talk about the videos that show the children naked. But, according to reports, the two naked videos are only one minute and less than one minute in length. And in the one minute video, the children have on towels when the video starts. They are naked dancing in the third video, which is described as much shorter than a minute.

So maybe Melodee doesn't know what her husband is really like, maybe he has preyed on his children. But I could also see the short lengths of the naked videos and her explanation of the clothed video as evidence that they are plausibly harmless. Obviously anything else found, or not found, on any device used by Todd will factor in as well. It's a very interesting case and a tragedy either way...either the children have been victimized by their father or a good family has been subjected to horrific accusations.
 
I am wondering how LE learned of these allegedly "innocent, family" videos in the first place.
 
I am wondering how LE learned of these allegedly "innocent, family" videos in the first place.

I'm sure the IT turned it in to his supervisor, who turned it in to his supervisor, and after the Penn State nightmare, they surely were going to error on the side of caution and alert authorities.
 
I believe those videos are innocent family pictures for family use only. Don't you think if they were meant to be child *advertiser censored* that he would have deleted them before taking the phone to a college IT???? I know we seem to have an epidemic of child *advertiser censored*, sexual abuse, incest, engendered by the Informaton Highway, but normal, ordinary people take naked pictures of their children and mean no harm by it.

Well meaning people who have seen way too much of the nasty side of life, made a faulty decision here, IMO.

(snipped)from the Star Tribune link above.

Melodee Hoffner offered an explanation for the video showing her daughter walking to the bathroom, saying that the girl has "difficulty during the night," so she and her husband wake her to use the bathroom. Hoffner said the daughter would be half-asleep when they woke her and would not remember, so the parents took video to show her. Melodee Hoffner said her daughter was clothed in that video.

No other images or evidence has so far been found other than that on the phone.

This is my opinion and I'm sticking to it unless I see a lot more evidence to prove guilt. :moo:

BBM I do not believe there is anything innocent or family oriented about photographing a nude son masturbating/fondling himself in the presence of his also nude sisters, nor do I see anything innocent about continuing to video as those daughters turn their backsides and pull their buttocks apart to display their anuses. Also just :moo:

Some might say as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, perhaps I am hyper vigilant. That may well be, but that's my opinion on the matter.

I would love to hear Melodee's innocent explanation for the videos described above.

I am not ready to convict someone based on a snippet of subjective video, I will wait to hear whether interviews with those children bring any further evidence. But I am also not ready to excuse extremely poor judgment of someone who thinks its a good family video moment to take the footage described above either.
 
BBM I do not believe there is anything innocent or family oriented about photographing a nude son masturbating/fondling himself in the presence of his also nude sisters, nor do I see anything innocent about continuing to video as those daughters turn their backsides and pull their buttocks apart to display their anuses. Also just :moo:

Some might say as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, perhaps I am hyper vigilant. That may well be, but that's my opinion on the matter.

I would love to hear Melodee's innocent explanation for the videos described above.I am not ready to convict someone based on a snippet of subjective video, I will wait to hear whether interviews with those children bring any further evidence. But I am also not ready to excuse extremely poor judgment of someone who thinks its a good family video moment to take the footage described above either.

Also from the Star Trib. link ~ Melodee's words about the videos.

"My family does what every family does -- we take videos and pictures of our kids in all their craziness," she said at a lectern in the lobby of Maschka, Riedy & Ries, the Mankato law firm representing her husband. "I am confident that when all of the facts are known, these videos will be understood as innocent videos of typical kids being silly."

Nobody said the boy was 'masturbating'. They did say 'fondling' but someone might interpret just covering himself with his hand as fondling if that's what they were expecting...you see what you expect to see, IMO. My goodness, some people are way more open to nudity than others, in their own home, doesn't make them criminals.
 
my children nude and displaying their anuses to me would be received as a teaching moment by me, not a photo or video op.

Again, I get that I may be hyper vigilant but I am no prude. I am however, very careful about personal space, body image and appropriate privacy in regards to nudity as my children age and develop.

Agreeing to disagree on the topic of nudity and children above the age of toddlers.
 
I realize that everyones view about taking pictures of your own children nude vary, but most (from what I've read here) believe that nude pics usually stop being taken around 2 0r 3 years of age. These kids are much older. I believe 9, 7, and 5. If the boy fondling himself is the 5 year old..I can understand a 5 year old grabbing himself without even being aware of what he's doing. If the boy is the nine year old I have a huge problem with the fondling. Also,The way the girls exposed themselves by bending over to show their anus bothers me. Maybe a teenage boy if his friends are the ones vidio taping. I can't imagine for the life of me any young child doing that, let alone a young girl.

The video of the bathroom trip can be explained away, but coupled with the other video..I just hope this investigation is super thorough. I pray that none of these kids have suffered at the hands of thier own father. IMOO
 

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