Ex-Minnesota high school teacher gets prison for sending child porn to undercover agent

A teacher and youth sports coach in New Ulm, Minn., was sentenced to six years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty last year to a charge he shared videos of child sexual abuse.

Daniel John Janke, 54, of Mankato received his prison sentence Wednesday from Judge John Tunheim in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.

His prison term will be followed by five years of supervised release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota said in a news release Thursday.

Janke pleaded guilty Oct. 29 to one count of distribution of child sexual abuse material.

As part of his plea agreement, Janke admitted to knowingly sending child pornography when he sent the videos to an undercover FBI agent in October and November of 2023 on the social network Kik.

Online, Janke posed as “Jack Frost” with the user name “superMel101.” According to court documents, Janke asked to see naked images of the daughter of the undercover agent.

Janke shared a video online on Oct. 31, 2023, of sexual abuse and at least three images of minors, prosecutors said.

The victims in the video have been identified and do not live in Minnesota, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said, according to the indictment. The Virginia-based nonprofit organization reviewed the contents of Janke’s phone.

Janke worked as a teacher for the New Ulm and Sleepy Eye school districts for roughly 31 years from 1993 to 2024, court documents said. He also worked as a part-time golf coach at Martin Luther College for three years, and for the New Ulm School District for almost three decades.

Sean Koster, superintendent of New Ulm Public Schools, said in September that Janke was an employee there but had not been actively working since April 2023.

“No New Ulm families or students have ever been involved in the situation or are involved in the charges at all,” Koster said in September.

In 2006, Janke was accused of sending sexual emails to girls at New Ulm Middle School, but was cleared when local police determined two seventh-grade boys had been the ones who sent the inappropriate messages, the Mankato Free Press reported at the time.

Wednesday’s sentence is less than the 10 years that federal prosecutors sought.

In a letter to the court, prosecutors argued that Janke has minimized what he did, “to the point that he apparently believes this is something that happened to him.”

Lawyers for Janke argued during sentencing that a psychological evaluation put him at low risk of re-offending, and did not conclude he is a pedophile. They also noted that his family and friends continue to support him, writing letters saying his crime was inconsistent with his general conduct.

Janke was also ordered to pay $18,000 in special assessments that benefit minors directly affected by child pornography offenses.

“It’s hard to imagine someone working with children and then making the choice to exploit them on the internet,” acting U.S. Attorney Lisa Kirkpatrick said in a news release Thursday.