Baron makes initial court appearance

On Tuesday, Dec. 26, Ryan Baron appeared alongside his attorney via Zoom for his initial appearance after being accused of child pornography possession.

Baron was charged on November 29 with five counts of "possession of certain materials prohibited," each a Class C felony.

Baron was the superintendent and high school principal for Midkota Public Schools at the time of his arrest, which occurred after a search warrant was executed on his home when a "cyber tip" was received from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Officers allegedly discovered five videos in his possession that depicted sexual acts between adults and children as young as seven years old.

The purpose of his initial appearance Tuesday was to officially inform Baron of the charges filed against him, as well as the rights he has as a criminal defendant.

Baron and his attorney, Luke Heck, were informed that each Class C felony charge comes with a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment, a fine of $10,000, or both.

They were also informed that, because Baron is charged with felonies, he has the right to a preliminary hearing at which the state has to prove "probable cause" that those felonies were committed and that Baron is the one who committed them.

If probable cause is not found, the judge would dismiss the charges.

The hearing was brief and routine, with the exception of a request from District Court Judge James Hovey to have the Griggs County State's Attorney, Jayme Tenneson, amend the complaint against Baron.

According to Hovey, the charging document does not clearly indicate which video each charge correlates to.

Tenneson said he would amend the complaint, and later that day the amended document was officially filed.

With that, the hearing came to an end. Baron's next court appearance will be a preliminary hearing scheduled for 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 23.