This Minnesota State story just got weirder. (1 Viewer)

MANKATO, Minn. -- The players at Minnesota State, Mankato, refused to practice for their former coach on Wednesday, greeting his reinstatement by an arbitrator by demanding that the interim coach keep the top job.

Todd Hoffner returned to campus for the first time since the arbitrator ruled he was fired unfairly last year in the wake of a child porn investigation that ultimately cleared him.

Mavericks players came out for spring practice Wednesday afternoon but were not in uniform, The Free Press of Mankato reported. They issued a statement saying they were unanimous in wanting offensive coordinator Aaron Keen to remain as head coach.

"We've all become outstanding community members, students and athletes in the last year and a half since the removal of Todd Hoffner," said the statement, which junior safety Sam Thompson read aloud. "Throughout this process, we have been silent. It is time our voice is heard."

“
We've all become outstanding community members, students and athletes in the last year and a half since the removal of Todd Hoffner. Throughout this process, we have been silent. It is time our voice is heard.
”
-- Junior safety Sam Thompson, reading from a statement issued the players
Thompson said the players "want answers, because this is our team," according to the MSU Reporter, a student publication.

"As a unit we have decided not to practice because of the change-up in the coaching situation," he said.

Keen gave a brief statement saying the program was bound by the arbitrator's ruling and that Hoffner is the head coach.

Athletic director Kevin Buisman said in a statement that players had "shared their concerns." He said a meeting was scheduled for Thursday among the players, Hoffner, Keen and the rest of the coaching staff.

With Keen as coach last season, Minnesota State finished 11-1 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division II playoffs. He guided the team to a 13-1 finish and the national semifinals the next season. The team was also successful under Hoffner, who was 34-13 in four seasons before being fired.

Hoffner was arrested in 2012 over images of his children on a university-issued cellphone. Although he was eventually cleared by a judge who described the images as innocent pictures of children acting playful after a bath, the school subsequently suspended, reassigned and fired him for reasons that weren't made public at the time. The arbitrator's report said Hoffner was accused of viewing porn on his work computer and letting his wife use the device, and neither charge was proved.

Hoffner, 47, accepted the head-coaching job at Minot State in January, and the arbitrator's order that he be reinstated forced him to choose. He said Tuesday he would go back to Mankato, saying it would "help heal that injury."

His supporters said the school overreacted in the wake of the sex abuse scandal at Penn State, noting his high-profile arrest came just months after retired Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted of child sex abuse.

The university said in a statement Tuesday that it welcomed Hoffner back and also apologized to him.

Earlier Wednesday, Hoffner told the Free Press it felt refreshing to be back on campus. He said he got a big hug from senior tight end Darius Clare as he walked into the football offices before practice.

"That made me feel good. I don't know if every person will feel that way," Hoffner said, sporting his Minnesota State jacket.

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Tom Skerritt said:

These kids have never looked at porn?

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The Commish said:

Tom Skerritt said:

These kids have never looked at porn?

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It was supposedly kiddie porn, no?

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Abraham said:

The Commish said:

Tom Skerritt said:

These kids have never looked at porn?

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It was supposedly kiddie porn, no?

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It was a picture of his two children after they had taken a bath.

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The Commish said:

Abraham said:

The Commish said:

Tom Skerritt said:

These kids have never looked at porn?

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It was supposedly kiddie porn, no?

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It was a picture of his two children after they had taken a bath.

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Ok...that's what I was reading....so why are folks up in arms over this? Because it was a school phone?

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Abraham said:

The Commish said:

Abraham said:

The Commish said:

Tom Skerritt said:

These kids have never looked at porn?

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It was supposedly kiddie porn, no?

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It was a picture of his two children after they had taken a bath.

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Ok...that's what I was reading....so why are folks up in arms over this? Because it was a school phone?

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Because the university flipped out and refused to release any information. So the gossip mill got going that he had kiddie porn on his phone, which of course he did not.

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BeTheMatch said:

To be fair to the school, the pictures of his kids were more than just a bath. And the one kid wasn't exactly a two-year-old. They were bending over and exposing things. It was pretty lewd stuff if you ask me. This whole "innocent pictures of his kids" routine is kind of a load of crap. I think a lot of people would react exactly as the university did.

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avoiding injuries said:

BeTheMatch said:

To be fair to the school, the pictures of his kids were more than just a bath. And the one kid wasn't exactly a two-year-old. They were bending over and exposing things. It was pretty lewd stuff if you ask me. This whole "innocent pictures of his kids" routine is kind of a load of crap. I think a lot of people would react exactly as the university did.

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How do you know this?Deadspin did a story on this yesterday and took some heat in the comments section because of their reporting of this story when it first happened. They sensationalized it and basically convicted him in their headline of the story.

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MikeIke said:

My mom has a picture of two-year old me in the bath with my cousins. There's nothing left to the imagination. It's sad to think that in this day and age that would be considered kiddie porn. To me (the "victim"), it's just a cute picture of an innocent child playing at bathtime.

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BeTheMatch said:

avoiding injuries said:

BeTheMatch said:

To be fair to the school, the pictures of his kids were more than just a bath. And the one kid wasn't exactly a two-year-old. They were bending over and exposing things. It was pretty lewd stuff if you ask me. This whole "innocent pictures of his kids" routine is kind of a load of crap. I think a lot of people would react exactly as the university did.

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How do you know this?Deadspin did a story on this yesterday and took some heat in the comments section because of their reporting of this story when it first happened. They sensationalized it and basically convicted him in their headline of the story.

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At the time it happened, the Star Tribune reported all kind of specific details about the photos, citing investigators or whoever that saw them. And even the mom generally acknowledged the content of the photos when she tried to explain what they were doing, that they were running around naked and singing and doing all these dance moves and stuff. This wasn't a picture of a two-year-old sitting in a bathtub.

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BeTheMatch said:

avoiding injuries said:

BeTheMatch said:

To be fair to the school, the pictures of his kids were more than just a bath. And the one kid wasn't exactly a two-year-old. They were bending over and exposing things. It was pretty lewd stuff if you ask me. This whole "innocent pictures of his kids" routine is kind of a load of crap. I think a lot of people would react exactly as the university did.

Click to expand...

How do you know this?Deadspin did a story on this yesterday and took some heat in the comments section because of their reporting of this story when it first happened. They sensationalized it and basically convicted him in their headline of the story.

Click to expand...

At the time it happened, the Star Tribune reported all kind of specific details about the photos, citing investigators or whoever that saw them. And even the mom generally acknowledged the content of the photos when she tried to explain what they were doing, that they were running around naked and singing and doing all these dance moves and stuff. This wasn't a picture of a two-year-old sitting in a bathtub.

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Sinn Fein said:

BeTheMatch said:

avoiding injuries said:

BeTheMatch said:

To be fair to the school, the pictures of his kids were more than just a bath. And the one kid wasn't exactly a two-year-old. They were bending over and exposing things. It was pretty lewd stuff if you ask me. This whole "innocent pictures of his kids" routine is kind of a load of crap. I think a lot of people would react exactly as the university did.

Click to expand...

How do you know this?Deadspin did a story on this yesterday and took some heat in the comments section because of their reporting of this story when it first happened. They sensationalized it and basically convicted him in their headline of the story.

Click to expand...

At the time it happened, the Star Tribune reported all kind of specific details about the photos, citing investigators or whoever that saw them. And even the mom generally acknowledged the content of the photos when she tried to explain what they were doing, that they were running around naked and singing and doing all these dance moves and stuff. This wasn't a picture of a two-year-old sitting in a bathtub.

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link?

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November 30, 2012:

On Friday, Blue Earth County District Judge Krista Jass said she had not found any evidence that the videos amounted to pornography.

'The videos under consideration here contain nude images of Defendant's minor children dancing and acting playful after a bath. That is all they contain,' she wrote in her 24-page ruling.

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Hoffner, 46, and his wife, Melodee, had both maintained there was nothing inappropriate about the videos, which they said simply showed the children being silly.

His attorney Jim Fleming singled out Mike Hanson, an assistant county prosecutor, for bringing charges in the first place. 'Mr Hanson essentially argued that this was child pornography because he knows it when he sees it,' Hoffner said.

A search of computers taken from the Hoffner home has found 'no additional items that would be considered child pornography,' said Blue Earth County Sheriff's Captain Rich Murry.

Hoffner had been charged with one count of using minors in a sexual performance or pornographic work and one count of possessing child pornography. Both are felonies.

Hanson - who cast the final decision that the images were pornographic and an arrest had to be made - had said: 'Adults should not make videos of children in lewd poses - period.'

But in court, Hoffner explained the context surrounding the videos.

Two of them - which prosecutors said are the most troubling - show his children fooling around after a whirlpool bubble bath. They drop their towels and run around naked.

At one point, the eight-year-old son grabs his genitals and his daughters bend over and spread their buttocks apart. These were shot in June.

Hoffner told the court, that after their bath, the children came down to where he was working and asked their father to videotape them because they had made up a skit and wanted their dad to record it - which he did on the work Blackberry, according to the Star Tribune.

'It started with their towels on,' he said. 'They were singing, dancing and laughing. They were doing silly things, having fun.'

He said his son seemed determined to 'sabotage' his sisters' routine and jumped in front of them and 'grabbed his private parts' for a few seconds.

He said he stopped recording at this point but then his daughters, who were upset with their brother, asked them to record it again. This time, the son ran in naked with just a football helmet on. Hoffner said at this point he stopped recording as he knew his son was determined to 'mess everything up'.

In an August video, one of the coach's daughters is woken up by her father and told to go to the bathroom. As she is followed to the bathroom, the camera is focused on her underwear.

He said he did not show the videos to anyone and did not even view them again after taking them. In fact, he forgot they were even on there when he took his phone to the university's IT department, he told the court.

But Hanson said it is for this very reason that charges should be withheld. He said: 'You typically have videos made to show to your friends or put on Facebook. That didn't happen here and it didn't happen for a pretty good reason.'

Hoffner said he was genuinely shocked when he was arrested on the pornography charges and he had no idea what videos they were talking about.

A search of computers and other equipment taken from Hoffner's home when he was arrested turned up no evidence to support the prosecution's case. Social workers who interviewed the children and saw the videos said they found no evidence the couple's children had been abused.

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Sinn Fein said:

November 30, 2012:

On Friday, Blue Earth County District Judge Krista Jass said she had not found any evidence that the videos amounted to pornography.

'The videos under consideration here contain nude images of Defendant's minor children dancing and acting playful after a bath. That is all they contain,' she wrote in her 24-page ruling.

Click to expand...

Hoffner, 46, and his wife, Melodee, had both maintained there was nothing inappropriate about the videos, which they said simply showed the children being silly.

His attorney Jim Fleming singled out Mike Hanson, an assistant county prosecutor, for bringing charges in the first place. 'Mr Hanson essentially argued that this was child pornography because he knows it when he sees it,' Hoffner said.

A search of computers taken from the Hoffner home has found 'no additional items that would be considered child pornography,' said Blue Earth County Sheriff's Captain Rich Murry.

Hoffner had been charged with one count of using minors in a sexual performance or pornographic work and one count of possessing child pornography. Both are felonies.

Hanson - who cast the final decision that the images were pornographic and an arrest had to be made - had said: 'Adults should not make videos of children in lewd poses - period.'

But in court, Hoffner explained the context surrounding the videos.

Two of them - which prosecutors said are the most troubling - show his children fooling around after a whirlpool bubble bath. They drop their towels and run around naked.

At one point, the eight-year-old son grabs his genitals and his daughters bend over and spread their buttocks apart. These were shot in June.

Hoffner told the court, that after their bath, the children came down to where he was working and asked their father to videotape them because they had made up a skit and wanted their dad to record it - which he did on the work Blackberry, according to the Star Tribune.

'It started with their towels on,' he said. 'They were singing, dancing and laughing. They were doing silly things, having fun.'

He said his son seemed determined to 'sabotage' his sisters' routine and jumped in front of them and 'grabbed his private parts' for a few seconds.

He said he stopped recording at this point but then his daughters, who were upset with their brother, asked them to record it again. This time, the son ran in naked with just a football helmet on. Hoffner said at this point he stopped recording as he knew his son was determined to 'mess everything up'.

In an August video, one of the coach's daughters is woken up by her father and told to go to the bathroom. As she is followed to the bathroom, the camera is focused on her underwear.

He said he did not show the videos to anyone and did not even view them again after taking them. In fact, he forgot they were even on there when he took his phone to the university's IT department, he told the court.

But Hanson said it is for this very reason that charges should be withheld. He said: 'You typically have videos made to show to your friends or put on Facebook. That didn't happen here and it didn't happen for a pretty good reason.'

Hoffner said he was genuinely shocked when he was arrested on the pornography charges and he had no idea what videos they were talking about.

A search of computers and other equipment taken from Hoffner's home when he was arrested turned up no evidence to support the prosecution's case. Social workers who interviewed the children and saw the videos said they found no evidence the couple's children had been abused.

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BeTheMatch said:

Sinn Fein said:

November 30, 2012:

On Friday, Blue Earth County District Judge Krista Jass said she had not found any evidence that the videos amounted to pornography.

'The videos under consideration here contain nude images of Defendant's minor children dancing and acting playful after a bath. That is all they contain,' she wrote in her 24-page ruling.

Click to expand...

Hoffner, 46, and his wife, Melodee, had both maintained there was nothing inappropriate about the videos, which they said simply showed the children being silly.

His attorney Jim Fleming singled out Mike Hanson, an assistant county prosecutor, for bringing charges in the first place. 'Mr Hanson essentially argued that this was child pornography because he knows it when he sees it,' Hoffner said.

A search of computers taken from the Hoffner home has found 'no additional items that would be considered child pornography,' said Blue Earth County Sheriff's Captain Rich Murry.

Hoffner had been charged with one count of using minors in a sexual performance or pornographic work and one count of possessing child pornography. Both are felonies.

Hanson - who cast the final decision that the images were pornographic and an arrest had to be made - had said: 'Adults should not make videos of children in lewd poses - period.'

But in court, Hoffner explained the context surrounding the videos.

Two of them - which prosecutors said are the most troubling - show his children fooling around after a whirlpool bubble bath. They drop their towels and run around naked.

At one point, the eight-year-old son grabs his genitals and his daughters bend over and spread their buttocks apart. These were shot in June.

Hoffner told the court, that after their bath, the children came down to where he was working and asked their father to videotape them because they had made up a skit and wanted their dad to record it - which he did on the work Blackberry, according to the Star Tribune.

'It started with their towels on,' he said. 'They were singing, dancing and laughing. They were doing silly things, having fun.'

He said his son seemed determined to 'sabotage' his sisters' routine and jumped in front of them and 'grabbed his private parts' for a few seconds.

He said he stopped recording at this point but then his daughters, who were upset with their brother, asked them to record it again. This time, the son ran in naked with just a football helmet on. Hoffner said at this point he stopped recording as he knew his son was determined to 'mess everything up'.

In an August video, one of the coach's daughters is woken up by her father and told to go to the bathroom. As she is followed to the bathroom, the camera is focused on her underwear.

He said he did not show the videos to anyone and did not even view them again after taking them. In fact, he forgot they were even on there when he took his phone to the university's IT department, he told the court.

But Hanson said it is for this very reason that charges should be withheld. He said: 'You typically have videos made to show to your friends or put on Facebook. That didn't happen here and it didn't happen for a pretty good reason.'

Hoffner said he was genuinely shocked when he was arrested on the pornography charges and he had no idea what videos they were talking about.

A search of computers and other equipment taken from Hoffner's home when he was arrested turned up no evidence to support the prosecution's case. Social workers who interviewed the children and saw the videos said they found no evidence the couple's children had been abused.

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This is what I was referring to.

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BeTheMatch said:

This is what I was referring to.

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TobiasFunke said:

BeTheMatch said:

Sinn Fein said:

November 30, 2012:

On Friday, Blue Earth County District Judge Krista Jass said she had not found any evidence that the videos amounted to pornography.

'The videos under consideration here contain nude images of Defendant's minor children dancing and acting playful after a bath. That is all they contain,' she wrote in her 24-page ruling.

Click to expand...

Hoffner, 46, and his wife, Melodee, had both maintained there was nothing inappropriate about the videos, which they said simply showed the children being silly.

His attorney Jim Fleming singled out Mike Hanson, an assistant county prosecutor, for bringing charges in the first place. 'Mr Hanson essentially argued that this was child pornography because he knows it when he sees it,' Hoffner said.

A search of computers taken from the Hoffner home has found 'no additional items that would be considered child pornography,' said Blue Earth County Sheriff's Captain Rich Murry.

Hoffner had been charged with one count of using minors in a sexual performance or pornographic work and one count of possessing child pornography. Both are felonies.

Hanson - who cast the final decision that the images were pornographic and an arrest had to be made - had said: 'Adults should not make videos of children in lewd poses - period.'

But in court, Hoffner explained the context surrounding the videos.

Two of them - which prosecutors said are the most troubling - show his children fooling around after a whirlpool bubble bath. They drop their towels and run around naked.

At one point, the eight-year-old son grabs his genitals and his daughters bend over and spread their buttocks apart. These were shot in June.

Hoffner told the court, that after their bath, the children came down to where he was working and asked their father to videotape them because they had made up a skit and wanted their dad to record it - which he did on the work Blackberry, according to the Star Tribune.

'It started with their towels on,' he said. 'They were singing, dancing and laughing. They were doing silly things, having fun.'

He said his son seemed determined to 'sabotage' his sisters' routine and jumped in front of them and 'grabbed his private parts' for a few seconds.

He said he stopped recording at this point but then his daughters, who were upset with their brother, asked them to record it again. This time, the son ran in naked with just a football helmet on. Hoffner said at this point he stopped recording as he knew his son was determined to 'mess everything up'.

In an August video, one of the coach's daughters is woken up by her father and told to go to the bathroom. As she is followed to the bathroom, the camera is focused on her underwear.

He said he did not show the videos to anyone and did not even view them again after taking them. In fact, he forgot they were even on there when he took his phone to the university's IT department, he told the court.

But Hanson said it is for this very reason that charges should be withheld. He said: 'You typically have videos made to show to your friends or put on Facebook. That didn't happen here and it didn't happen for a pretty good reason.'

Hoffner said he was genuinely shocked when he was arrested on the pornography charges and he had no idea what videos they were talking about.

A search of computers and other equipment taken from Hoffner's home when he was arrested turned up no evidence to support the prosecution's case. Social workers who interviewed the children and saw the videos said they found no evidence the couple's children had been abused.

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This is what I was referring to.

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Did you read the rest of it, where his kids asked him to videotape a dance routine and started with their towels on?

Serious question: you ever been around kids under the age of 10? This behavior doesn't really seem that unusual at all. The guy just happened to be recording it because his kids asked him to.

I'm baffled that anyone finds this troubling or concerning. The one where he follows his daughter to the bathroom, maybe ... although given the lengths they went to in order to find the first video pornographic I have to question whether the shot really focuses on her "underwear" or if that's just in the mind of the clearly overeager prosecutor.

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BeTheMatch said:

TobiasFunke said:

BeTheMatch said:

Sinn Fein said:

November 30, 2012:

On Friday, Blue Earth County District Judge Krista Jass said she had not found any evidence that the videos amounted to pornography.

'The videos under consideration here contain nude images of Defendant's minor children dancing and acting playful after a bath. That is all they contain,' she wrote in her 24-page ruling.

Click to expand...

Hoffner, 46, and his wife, Melodee, had both maintained there was nothing inappropriate about the videos, which they said simply showed the children being silly.

His attorney Jim Fleming singled out Mike Hanson, an assistant county prosecutor, for bringing charges in the first place. 'Mr Hanson essentially argued that this was child pornography because he knows it when he sees it,' Hoffner said.

A search of computers taken from the Hoffner home has found 'no additional items that would be considered child pornography,' said Blue Earth County Sheriff's Captain Rich Murry.

Hoffner had been charged with one count of using minors in a sexual performance or pornographic work and one count of possessing child pornography. Both are felonies.

Hanson - who cast the final decision that the images were pornographic and an arrest had to be made - had said: 'Adults should not make videos of children in lewd poses - period.'

But in court, Hoffner explained the context surrounding the videos.

Two of them - which prosecutors said are the most troubling - show his children fooling around after a whirlpool bubble bath. They drop their towels and run around naked.

At one point, the eight-year-old son grabs his genitals and his daughters bend over and spread their buttocks apart. These were shot in June.

Hoffner told the court, that after their bath, the children came down to where he was working and asked their father to videotape them because they had made up a skit and wanted their dad to record it - which he did on the work Blackberry, according to the Star Tribune.

'It started with their towels on,' he said. 'They were singing, dancing and laughing. They were doing silly things, having fun.'

He said his son seemed determined to 'sabotage' his sisters' routine and jumped in front of them and 'grabbed his private parts' for a few seconds.

He said he stopped recording at this point but then his daughters, who were upset with their brother, asked them to record it again. This time, the son ran in naked with just a football helmet on. Hoffner said at this point he stopped recording as he knew his son was determined to 'mess everything up'.

In an August video, one of the coach's daughters is woken up by her father and told to go to the bathroom. As she is followed to the bathroom, the camera is focused on her underwear.

He said he did not show the videos to anyone and did not even view them again after taking them. In fact, he forgot they were even on there when he took his phone to the university's IT department, he told the court.

But Hanson said it is for this very reason that charges should be withheld. He said: 'You typically have videos made to show to your friends or put on Facebook. That didn't happen here and it didn't happen for a pretty good reason.'

Hoffner said he was genuinely shocked when he was arrested on the pornography charges and he had no idea what videos they were talking about.

A search of computers and other equipment taken from Hoffner's home when he was arrested turned up no evidence to support the prosecution's case. Social workers who interviewed the children and saw the videos said they found no evidence the couple's children had been abused.

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This is what I was referring to.

Click to expand...

Did you read the rest of it, where his kids asked him to videotape a dance routine and started with their towels on?

Serious question: you ever been around kids under the age of 10? This behavior doesn't really seem that unusual at all. The guy just happened to be recording it because his kids asked him to.

I'm baffled that anyone finds this troubling or concerning. The one where he follows his daughter to the bathroom, maybe ... although given the lengths they went to in order to find the first video pornographic I have to question whether the shot really focuses on her "underwear" or if that's just in the mind of the clearly overeager prosecutor.

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Yeah, I'm around my nine-year-old son quite a bit. And I think if I was filming him and he did something like bend over and spread his butt cheeks apart that I'd delete that.

And what would you like public school officials to do when they find pictures and video like this? Just assume it's all innocent? Just take dad's explanation as gospel? Given the content of the pictures and video, I think people are way too harsh on how the police and the school handled things.

You disagree obviously, and you're certainly entitled to your opinion.

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BeTheMatch said:

But now just today they've agreed to practice and play for him

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rockaction said:

I have no idea about any of this, nor the guy's intent, but this whole story just kinda made me lose my lunch appetite and gave me the willies.

Maybe that's just parenthood, but that sounds freaking weird, even in context of a doddering dad trying to please his children by videotaping them.

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TobiasFunke said:

rockaction said:

I have no idea about any of this, nor the guy's intent, but this whole story just kinda made me lose my lunch appetite and gave me the willies.

Maybe that's just parenthood, but that sounds freaking weird, even in context of a doddering dad trying to please his children by videotaping them.

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I'm a parent and it doesn't give me the willies or sound weird at all. My kids are younger than his and aren't old enough for that kinda thing, but I hear stories from my friends with kids between 4-8 about weird stuff like that all the time. Kids coming out of the bathroom with handfuls of their own ####, kids saying hilariously inappropriate things about their genitals to their grandparents, that sorta stuff. Until they hit they hit 5th/6th grade I was under the impression that they don't have any idea what's appropriate and what isn't. And as for the video- with smartphones my kids are being recorded any time they do anything remotely cute or funny. I'm sure when they get older and they ask us to do it we'll oblige.

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fantasycurse42 said:

If it was just two pictures of his kids after a bath, then he should sue the #### out of this school. There is nothing wrong with having a picture of your own little children in a bath or afterwards on your own personal device.

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rockaction said:

fantasycurse42 said:

If it was just two pictures of his kids after a bath, then he should sue the #### out of this school. There is nothing wrong with having a picture of your own little children in a bath or afterwards on your own personal device.

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Nah, you kind of had to have read the thread and watched the prosecution's accusations. There's some weird #### there, though the prosecution may have dressed it up, and ruined a man's life in the process.

I think he may full well be innocent. Totally. But it's still just a bit off. Just sad.

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Cjw_55106 said:

On what basis would you file suit? Like many states, Minnesota is an at will state. Unless you are terminated for illegal reasons (race, sexual preference, etc) you don't have much legal ground to stand on.

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GOB said:

Isn't Minnesota state the school Craig T Nelson built into a winner?

This is the extent of my input.

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BeTheMatch said:

TobiasFunke said:

BeTheMatch said:

Sinn Fein said:

November 30, 2012:

On Friday, Blue Earth County District Judge Krista Jass said she had not found any evidence that the videos amounted to pornography.

'The videos under consideration here contain nude images of Defendant's minor children dancing and acting playful after a bath. That is all they contain,' she wrote in her 24-page ruling.

Click to expand...

Hoffner, 46, and his wife, Melodee, had both maintained there was nothing inappropriate about the videos, which they said simply showed the children being silly.

His attorney Jim Fleming singled out Mike Hanson, an assistant county prosecutor, for bringing charges in the first place. 'Mr Hanson essentially argued that this was child pornography because he knows it when he sees it,' Hoffner said.

A search of computers taken from the Hoffner home has found 'no additional items that would be considered child pornography,' said Blue Earth County Sheriff's Captain Rich Murry.

Hoffner had been charged with one count of using minors in a sexual performance or pornographic work and one count of possessing child pornography. Both are felonies.

Hanson - who cast the final decision that the images were pornographic and an arrest had to be made - had said: 'Adults should not make videos of children in lewd poses - period.'

But in court, Hoffner explained the context surrounding the videos.

Two of them - which prosecutors said are the most troubling - show his children fooling around after a whirlpool bubble bath. They drop their towels and run around naked.

At one point, the eight-year-old son grabs his genitals and his daughters bend over and spread their buttocks apart. These were shot in June.

Hoffner told the court, that after their bath, the children came down to where he was working and asked their father to videotape them because they had made up a skit and wanted their dad to record it - which he did on the work Blackberry, according to the Star Tribune.

'It started with their towels on,' he said. 'They were singing, dancing and laughing. They were doing silly things, having fun.'

He said his son seemed determined to 'sabotage' his sisters' routine and jumped in front of them and 'grabbed his private parts' for a few seconds.

He said he stopped recording at this point but then his daughters, who were upset with their brother, asked them to record it again. This time, the son ran in naked with just a football helmet on. Hoffner said at this point he stopped recording as he knew his son was determined to 'mess everything up'.

In an August video, one of the coach's daughters is woken up by her father and told to go to the bathroom. As she is followed to the bathroom, the camera is focused on her underwear.

He said he did not show the videos to anyone and did not even view them again after taking them. In fact, he forgot they were even on there when he took his phone to the university's IT department, he told the court.

But Hanson said it is for this very reason that charges should be withheld. He said: 'You typically have videos made to show to your friends or put on Facebook. That didn't happen here and it didn't happen for a pretty good reason.'

Hoffner said he was genuinely shocked when he was arrested on the pornography charges and he had no idea what videos they were talking about.

A search of computers and other equipment taken from Hoffner's home when he was arrested turned up no evidence to support the prosecution's case. Social workers who interviewed the children and saw the videos said they found no evidence the couple's children had been abused.

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This is what I was referring to.

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Did you read the rest of it, where his kids asked him to videotape a dance routine and started with their towels on?

Serious question: you ever been around kids under the age of 10? This behavior doesn't really seem that unusual at all. The guy just happened to be recording it because his kids asked him to.

I'm baffled that anyone finds this troubling or concerning. The one where he follows his daughter to the bathroom, maybe ... although given the lengths they went to in order to find the first video pornographic I have to question whether the shot really focuses on her "underwear" or if that's just in the mind of the clearly overeager prosecutor.

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Yeah, I'm around my nine-year-old son quite a bit. And I think if I was filming him and he did something like bend over and spread his butt cheeks apart that I'd delete that.

And what would you like public school officials to do when they find pictures and video like this? Just assume it's all innocent? Just take dad's explanation as gospel? Given the content of the pictures and video, I think people are way too harsh on how the police and the school handled things.

You disagree obviously, and you're certainly entitled to your opinion.

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TobiasFunke said:

rockaction said:

I have no idea about any of this, nor the guy's intent, but this whole story just kinda made me lose my lunch appetite and gave me the willies.

Maybe that's just parenthood, but that sounds freaking weird, even in context of a doddering dad trying to please his children by videotaping them.

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I'm a parent and it doesn't give me the willies or sound weird at all. My kids are younger than his and aren't old enough for that kinda thing, but I hear stories from my friends with kids between 4-8 about weird stuff like that all the time. Kids coming out of the bathroom with handfuls of their own ####, kids saying hilariously inappropriate things about their genitals to their grandparents, that sorta stuff. Until they hit they hit 5th/6th grade I was under the impression that they don't have any idea what's appropriate and what isn't. And as for the video- with smartphones my kids are being recorded any time they do anything remotely cute or funny. I'm sure when they get older and they ask us to do it we'll oblige.

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