ROCHESTER, Minn. — A law enforcement sting to catch child predators netted one of their own last week when, court documents allege, Olmsted County Sheriff’s Cpl. Mathew Richard Adamson attempted to lure an undercover cop posing as a 13-year-old girl into sexual acts.

Adamson, 44, is charged in Olmsted County District Court with attempting to hire a child under 14 years old for prostitution, soliciting a child through electronic communication to engage in sexual conduct and engaging in electronic communication relating to sexual conduct with a child, all felonies.

Judge Jeffrey Kritzer on Friday ordered Adamson to be released on $10,000 bail provided he not use the internet, have no contact with children and abstain from controlled substances and alcohol. Kritzer also ordered that Adamson can be released on $100,000 bail with no conditions.

Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem has recused himself from the case and appointed Assistant Mower County Attorney Megan Burroughs to lead Adamson’s prosecution.

Adamson has been employed by the sheriff’s office since 2005, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before that, he worked as a police officer in St. Charles from 2003 to 2007 and was a Rochester Public Schools substitute teacher from 2003 to 2005.

He has been placed on administrative leave, according to Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Capt. Tim Parkin. Parkin declined to comment further on the case.

Adamson’s next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 14.

According to the criminal complaint:

A joint undercover investigation by the Rochester Police Department and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on Nov. 1, 2023, alleges that Adamson attempted to meet a teenage girl after having a sexually charged conversation.

An RPD detective posing as a 13-year-old girl received a chat message from Adamson that led to a conversation where Adamson offered to buy alcohol in exchange for the girl doing various sexual acts, the complaint said.

While Adamson was talking to the RPD detective, he started another conversation with a Minnesota BCA agent posing as a 14-year-old girl.

Adamson sent a selfie to the agent that appeared to be taken in an Olmsted County courtroom.

He requested to meet both of the undercover officers he believed to be teenage girls, the complaint states.

Around 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 2, law enforcement watched Adamson leave his workplace at the Olmsted County Work Release Center and drive to meet one of the agents he believed to be a child at a predetermined location. At the location, he made contact with a law enforcement decoy and was placed under arrest.

Adamson is one of two law enforcement officials currently charged in Olmsted County with a child sex crime.

Former Rochester police officer Timothy Robert Morgenstern, 23, of Rochester, is charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct, fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct involving contact, and using minors in a sexual performance, all felonies. The charges also mention his position of authority over the victim.

Morgenstern is accused of grooming a juvenile female and raping her after meeting her as a coach at John Marshall High School in 2022, according to the criminal complaint in the case.

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