A former Duluth youth ski coach who allegedly possessed thousands of child pornography files has been indicted on federal charges.

John David Degelau (Courtesy of Duluth News Tribune)

John David Degelau, 27, of Duluth, made his first appearance Thursday in U.S. District Court before Magistrate Judge Leo Brisbois after a grand jury returned the indictment on two counts of possession of child pornography.

Degelau, who coached freestyle for Team Duluth, a private youth organization at Spirit Mountain, was arrested in December and charged in state court with four of the same offenses.

Court documents allege that he admitted to looking up child sexual abuse material online and using Adobe Photoshop software to transpose or “morph” other, nonsexual photographs of children onto those images.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota said the images featured several minor victims, some as young as 8 years old, engaged in sexual activities. Degelau also allegedly edited images of his own genitalia onto some of the child sexual abuse material, according to filings.

The investigation began when Adobe submitted tips to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children indicating an account in Degelau’s name had uploaded suspected child pornography. Authorities confirmed his IP address had been used in the uploads, and executed a search warrant at his Skyline Parkway home in March 2023, seizing several laptops and other devices.

Among those, authorities said, were “approximately 18,000 images and videos of child sexual abuse materials, child exploitation material and age-difficult images.” Known victims were allegedly identified in 790 photos and 34 videos.

In an interview at the time, Degelau allegedly admitted to looking at and editing child pornography during a “dark period.” Police notified Team Duluth at that time and he was terminated from his coaching role.

Degelau, who earlier posted a $100,000 bond in the state case, was again arrested early Thursday and released after making his initial federal appearance, according to Douglas County Jail records.

He is scheduled to make another state court appearance Tuesday; a federal court date was not immediately listed.

The case was investigated by the Duluth Police Department, Lake Superior Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, FBI and Homeland Security Investigations.

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