The Case of “Intimate Non-Personal” Abuse in Minnesota

State of Minnesota State Trooper and United States of America National Guardsmen Jeremy Plonski

MINNESOTA — The arrest of 29-year-old Minnesota State Trooper Jeremy Plonski on charges of sexually assaulting an infant girl has sent shockwaves through the state and reignited national debate over institutional accountability. This case, horrific in its details, is also a stark example of what North Star Editorial terms “intimate non-personal” abuse—a form of exploitation committed under the guise of proximity, trust, or care, but devoid of personal regard or humanity.

What Is “Intimate Non-Personal” Abuse?

This term defines abuse not based on traditional emotional closeness, but on structural access and authority. It's the intimacy of access—not affection. It’s how vulnerable people—particularly children, the disabled, or the institutionalized—are violated not by strangers in the shadows, but by those sanctioned to be near them: caregivers, soldiers, officers of the law.

Jeremy Plonski was not just a uniformed state employee. He was a member of the Minnesota National Guard since 2013, a deployed serviceman, and a trooper hired by the State Patrol in 2022. In theory, he embodied discipline, order, and public duty. In practice, according to prosecutors, he used his private life and unregulated access to commit “one of the most vile and predatory offenses imaginable.”

The Allegations

Federal charges allege that Plonski recorded himself sexually assaulting an infant girl inside his Shakopee home, producing and distributing child sexual abuse material. The videos—sent via the encrypted social messaging app Kik—were recovered by FBI agents in Houston, who identified Plonski's face in the footage.

He allegedly confessed to investigators that the abuse occurred in 2022 and that he was in a “dominant/submissive” online relationship with the Kik user who had requested the videos. Plonski claimed to be the submissive in that dynamic.

Let that sit for a moment.

This was not just a crime against one child. This was a systemic failure. A man authorized by the state to use force, enforce the law, and wear its uniform hid behind state legitimacy while allegedly abusing the most powerless and voiceless among us.

A Crisis of Institutional Trust

What is most disturbing here is not just the personal depravity but the institutional passivity that precedes so many of these cases. Plonski was trained, cleared, hired, and empowered. He passed through the layers of state scrutiny that should act as moral filtration. Instead, he allegedly exploited those very credentials to maintain access, anonymity, and perceived legitimacy.

The FBI’s Alvin M. Winston Sr. called it “a gross betrayal of public trust.” But for those familiar with the cycles of state-enabled abuse—particularly within law enforcement, juvenile systems, and the military—this is not a betrayal. It is a pattern.

Why Language Matters

Labeling this as “intimate non-personal” abuse matters because our legal and cultural frameworks still tend to silo abuse into familiar tropes: familial, romantic, stranger-danger. But the abuse that festers in uniformed proximity—in institutions that demand trust but often evade oversight—is the kind that often does the most systemic damage.

Because it tells the public: Even here, your children are not safe.

The Path Forward

Plonski remains in custody at Sherburne County Jail. The charges against him—first-degree criminal sexual conduct and federal child pornography—could result in a lifetime sentence. But that alone will not fix what allowed this.

This case must serve as a call to action:

Independent psychological vetting for all state law enforcement hires.
Mandatory reporting and external review of any misconduct involving children or online behavior.
Stronger federal oversight of institutions that house or regularly interact with minors and vulnerable individuals.

Jeremy Plonski’s arrest is not just a singular tragedy. It’s an indictment of the state's selection, supervision, and sanctification of individuals whose access to power must be matched by constant scrutiny.

When the state gives someone a badge, it is giving them access—not just to streets, but to homes, to people, to trust. And when that access is exploited in the most unspeakable ways, what’s broken isn’t just one child’s safety.

What’s broken is the state's very claim to legitimacy.

Additional Sources: MN Crime

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