Husband didn’t appear in video caught on Omegle

ST. PAUL — Federal prosecutors shed more light on the child pornography case against Anthony and Deborah Edge Tuesday.

Prosecutors presented evidence while defense attorneys argued to drop charges during a pretrial hearing in St. Paul.

The Edges face a combined 11 counts related to allegedly producing several videos and images of child pornography in their Austin home. The Edges pleaded not guilty to the charges in July.

Prosecutors introduced several interviews Deborah did with agents from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. In addition, U.S. attorneys clarified further charges against the Edges last week.

Authorities raided the Edge home in late March after they were tipped off by The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about child pornography on the chat website Omegle.

Omegle tracked a Feb. 22 video chat and captured 26 images of an elementary-age girl performing sexual acts with an adult male, according to a court complaint. While authorities initially thought Anthony was involved in making the video, an analysis showed the video caught on Omegle was a commonly known child pornography clip instead.

Police found two computers at the Edge house, along with recordings of a teenage girl showering. Officers found pinhole cameras inside the house and interviewed a victim, who was unaware she had been recorded. Defense attorneys say Anthony installed the cameras for he and his wife to use, but prosecutors allege Anthony purposefully bought the motion-sensor cameras to record child pornography.

Later, state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents found a different video of Deborah talking with a naked elementary-aged child in a bathroom, according to court documents.

While defense attorneys argue this video was a family recording and didn’t constitute child pornography, prosecutors argue Deborah positioned the child in odd ways, while the camera allegedly focused on the child’s nudity.

Authorities found another image of Deborah naked from the waist down and holding a pornographic image of an infant.

Deborah admitted to being in both the video and the photo, according to the complaint. She also told police she knew Anthony was sending the video to someone else, but denied knowing she held a pornographic image of an infant in the photo. She said Anthony had her put on a blindfold when he took the photo.

Anthony previously registered as a sex offender after he was convicted in 2006 of possessing nude pictures of minors. He was charged in 2004 in Olmsted County after police found about 2,300 images of child pornography on a computer he left behind at a former residence.

The Edges’ attorneys are attempting to get several counts related to shower videos found in the home dropped. They argue the counts all relate to the same instance caught on tape rather than separate videos.

The Edges will go to trial in early December.