Charles William Maitski, a 60-year-old resident of St. Cloud, has been sentenced to life in federal prison for producing child sexual abuse material and enticing minors into sexual activity. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Paul G. Byron following Maitski’s guilty plea on July 8, 2025.
Law enforcement began investigating Maitski after receiving a tip in June 2024. Authorities discovered that he had been exploiting children online since at least 2012. Using search warrants and interviews with victims, investigators learned that Maitski created an online persona of a 14-year-old boy named “Chuck.” He used this identity to contact minors through Instagram and Discord.
Maitski sent hundreds of messages daily to his victims, sharing explicit images and videos of the teenager whose identity he had assumed. In exchange, he demanded that his victims perform acts on video calls and send him increasingly graphic content involving themselves. Investigators found that between 2023 and 2024, Maitski exchanged over 50,000 messages with victims and contacted nearly 300 minors or suspected minors via social media platforms. He also attempted to persuade one victim to abuse children she was babysitting.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the St. Cloud Police Department, with Assistant United States Attorney Richard Varadan leading the prosecution.
“This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse,” according to the release. “Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.”
Additional information about Project Safe Childhood can be found at www.justice.gov/psc.
