Starts with K

I’ve been on my fair share of ride-alongs – the opportunity to, as the name implies, ride along with a law enforcement officer, paramedic or other emergency service personnel – but never one quite like this.

My phone rang one evening; at the other end was Christian Berg, a detective with the Owatonna Police Department.

“Are you busy tomorrow?” Berg asked.

About 12 hours later, I was in a briefing room at the OPD, listening as he described the assignment ahead to the officers assembled.

“This is an individual who’s coming here, taking us back to the Cities for sex, then bringing us back to Owatonna,” Berg explained.

“Us,” in this case, is an undercover detective, posing as an underage female.

The plan was allegedly formulated by Jordan Patula, of Minnetrista, though that’s not what happened.

Instead, the 30-year-old Patula spent that weekend in jail, and was charged with felony counts of third-degree attempted criminal sexual conduct; soliciting a child through electronic communication to engage in sexual conduct; and engaging in electronic communication describing sexual conduct with a child.

Patula recently pleaded guilty to the engaging charge, and will be sentenced in April.

He reportedly thought he was texting with a 15-year-old female from Owatonna; instead, it was that undercover detective, working in one of many online forums.

After Patula confirmed via text to the “girl” that he had arrived in the parking lot for the arranged meeting, Berg initiated the takedown.

“Let’s let him know we’re here,” he said, and five squads swarmed Patula’s vehicle.

I held on to the armrest as the unmarked vehicle I was in raced to where Patula had parked. We pulled up short as Berg and others jumped out and arrested him.

I stayed in the car; he was handcuffed and in custody within moments.

In 2024, Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Forces conducted investigations that led to the arrest of more than 12,600 offenders.

That’s an average of 35 times every day across the United States – and that’s not counting cases like Patula’s, which did not involve the ICAC.

By their very nature, details about undercover cases remain in the shadows. Berg asked me not to identify the website involved, but take your pick. There are hundreds, including mainstream social media, gaming apps, chat rooms, dating apps and the dark web.

If the children in your life have internet service, they are very likely to be on at least one of those sites.

And if you – like me and everyone else with a beloved child in their life – don’t think that child would ever fall victim to a predator, please think again.

The FBI estimates there are as many as 500,000 active online predators every day.

Their numbers also indicate more than half of the victims of online sexual exploitation are between the ages of 12 and 15, but authorities have seen victims as young as 9.

Know this: All kids are vulnerable.

Online predators are very, very good at what they do.

Though Patula’s public criminal history does not include sexual exploitation, he seemed to know what a 15-year-old girl would want to hear.

He had cleaned his apartment for her, he wrote, and would have multiple types of birth control available.

“You look older than 15,” Patula allegedly said in a text. Remember being 15? Remember wishing you looked a little older?

Had his target been an actual 15-year-old, I suspect she would have been flattered.

And as the grandparent of four children between the ages of 9 and 15, I’m terrified.

As I sat with this column topic, I thought, of all things, about Moby Dick – and the wisdom of Herman Melville.

“Ignorance,” he wrote, “is the parent of fear.”

So now, parents and grandparents, you know. Use your knowledge to keep kids safe.