NEW ULM — A 40-year-old New Ulm man charged with 30 felony counts of possession of pornographic work in Brown County District Court last September agreed to a plea agreement in court Monday.

Brett D. Mathiowetz, 16256 Oakwood Heights Road, pleaded guilty to three counts of possession of pornographic work, minor under 14. The remaining 27 counts were dismissed.

Mathiowetz agreed to release to the State, the PSI (presentence investigation report) Investigator and the Court a copy of any psychosexual evaluation conducted on himself prior to sentencing, set for 9 a.m., Monday, May 15, 2023 in person.

In addition, he agreed to allow the State to present victim impact statements for any of the charges filed, whether or not dismissed, at sentencing, set for an hour in the courtroom.

According to court documents, Brown County Sheriff’s Office investigator Andrew Koneche received a message June 8 from a Minneapolis Police Department officer assigned to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, regarding an internet peer-to-peer child pornography possession and distribution case.

The message involved an internet-based investigation into a Brown County IP address that was sharing files believed to contain child pornography. The suspect’s home to which the IP address was traced was in Brown County.

The ICAC Officer’s report detailed a computer on the suspect’s IP address that was sharing files in 2016 that contained names associated with child pornography. Some of the files contained videos from a known child porn series. Other files shared contained names associated with a local business to which Mathiowetz was known to be connected.

The report detailed a computer on Mathiowetz’s IP address sharing files that contained names associated with child porn from Feb. 26-28. Other files shared during the same time period contained names associated with a local business to which Mathiowetz was connected.

A search warrant was executed June 21 at the New Ulm residence. A laptop computer and other computer items were seized as evidence after the laptop was booted and showed the user name as Mathiowetz and multiple file names associated with child porn.

The ICAC officer found evidence of digital child porn activity on the laptop from Feb. 26-28. In addition, the officer found evidence that 75 emails and attachments were created on the laptop in Mathiowetz’ user account. The emails came from a known email address associated with Mathiowetz.

Twenty-three child porn image files were found in a digital thumbnail database file.