St. Paul faith-based nonprofit leader charged with possessing child pornography

The executive director of a St Paul faith-based nonprofit that trains church clergy on addiction issues has been arrested and charged with possessing child pornography at his Roseville home Investigators executed a search warrant at the home of -year-old Drew Michael Brooks in October and discovered child sexual abuse material that had been printed and on his computer according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court charging him with counts of possessing child pornography Drew Michael Brooks Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office As executive director of Faith Partners Brooks provides leadership administration and training to people of faith to serve with an informed compassionate response to the peril and prevalence of addiction according to its website Faith Partners work is used in nearly congregations in states from different religious practices according to Brooks online bio He s been with the nonprofit since and was its scheme manager for years Brooks was issued from the Ramsey County jail on Wednesday without having to pay a bond court records show His first court appearance is scheduled for June An attorney is not listed in his court file and he did not return a message Thursday seeking comment on the charges According to the criminal complaint the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a cyber tip document from Microsoft on Dec that someone had accessed child sexual abuse material the day before Other cyber tips involving the same Roseville address were received between October and April Officers executed the search warrant at the home on Oct and detained Brooks and his wife Officers detected documents in the name of Faith Partners and a folder in a laptop bag containing printed images of child pornography Brooks wife informed police she that knew her husband viewed pornography but was not aware it was child pornography the complaint says She acknowledged Brooks role with the nonprofit and disclosed there are flash drives and computers in the home that he uses for work Brooks agreed to speak with officers who had placed the folder on the interview table He revealed he knew the folder contained images of children and that specific were sexual the complaint says Brooks mentioned he forgot the folder existed Brooks claimed he was sexually abused when he was child and later turned to drugs and alcohol He commented he was recovering by age then started going to meetings for sex addiction Brooks explained he was not initially interested in child pornography but he uncovered it was only a click away the complaint states He admitted he had looked at child pornography that week and that it was on a laptop in his home Brooks voluntarily provided passwords to his devices and an open browser displayed a webpage with child pornography Related Articles Bonded by work and love Israeli Embassy colleagues lives cut short by gunman A Michigan police officer who killed a Black motorist won t face a retrial prosecutor says Court papers say suspect in embassy killings declared I did it for Palestine I did it for Gaza New Jersey Democratic Rep McIver disclosed on recognizance on federal assault charges Former Cloquet police officer convicted of stealing K from woman with dementia Brooks announced he is not necessarily sexually attracted to children and he described an attraction repulsion dynamic along with novelty that makes him seek the material out the complaint states The printed images determined in the folder were submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children which returned a assessment that images contained child casualties previously identified by law enforcement the complaint says Brooks who has a bachelor s degree in psychology and sociology from the University of Minnesota-Duluth has a work history that includes six years as a robustness promotion specialist at Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation in Center City and seven years as a youth medical promotion specialist for the city of Bloomington according to his LinkedIn profile