NEW ULM — A 48-year-old Springfield man, formerly of Sleepy Eye, was convicted of three felony counts of possessing child pornography and one felony count of disseminating pornographic work in Brown County District Court Oct. 31.

Chad L. Zeig, 302 S. Paffrath St., was sentenced to 30 months in the St. Cloud Correctional Facility. An additional 48 month sentence was stayed for up to five years of supervised probation.

Zeig was fined $1,160 and credited with three days served. He was ordered not ot use or possess firearms, ammunition or explosives. He cannot register to vote or vote until probation discharge and his civil rights are fully restored.

In addition, he was ordered to complete a psychosexual evaluation, successfully complete outpatient sex programming as recommended, have no unsupervised contact with persons under age 18, no contact with victims or the family, may not possess or use any pornographic or sexually explicit material or have access to or use the Internet without approval.

Zeig may not have any mood-altering chemicals including anything with alcohol in it and he must register as a predatory offender.

According to court documents, a Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) special agent called Sleepy Eye Police March 25, 2021 regarding a cyber tip. BCA analysts said Zeig uploaded child porn images to Kik, an instant message mobile app. Police reviewed BCA information including tracing images to Zeig’s IP address, phone number, Sleepy Eye address and confirmed the Verizon cell phone number belonged to him.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Kik Messenger, listed Zeig’s email and said the user uploaded/shared video/image files with another user or group of users.

The investigator confirmed a Facebook profile the BCA found in its investigation belonged ot Zeig. Police confirmed the images were prepubescent females, a violation of the child pornography statute.