Paramedic from Shakopee charged with recording, distributing child pornography

A Shakopee man who works as a paramedic has been charged with recording and sending messages containing pornographic content of a minor.

Shane Edward Kinney, 40, is charged with possessing child pornography, disseminating child porn, using a minor in sexual performance, and interfering with a minor’s privacy.

According to a criminal complaint, Shakopee police were notified by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension about a Twitter cyber tip involving a sexual photo of a man with a young girl. The image was allegedly sent from the suspect’s Twitter account to another account, and the suspect account was traced back to Kinney.

Twitter provided police with Kinney’s direct message content, which included many sexual images of Kinney and several pictures of a young girl that were sent to other Twitter accounts, the complaint states.

After executing a search warrant at Kinney’s home, authorities found cameras and recording devices, as well as videos showing pornographic content of a minor, the complaint states.

The complaint states Shakopee police went to a training exercise Kinney was participating in on May 19 and arrested him. Kinney allegedly confirmed his Twitter account and the associated email account, and admitted to sharing pornographic content by public and private messages on the social platform. However, when asked about the messages discussing sexual acts with children, Kinney refused to talk about it.

Officers are still processing content found at Kinney’s home, the complaint states.

Allina Health issued the following statement to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS:

"We are aware that a former Allina Health EMS employee was arrested on May 19, 2021. Out of respect for law enforcement’s investigation we will not be making any further comment at this time."