Man accused in murder plots

An Owatonna man has been charged in federal court with threatening to carry out a murder plot – after he was arrested while en route to the area with flex cuffs, a taser, a large knife, rubber gloves and hooded facemasks.
Michael Lee Kurkowski, 26, is charged with one count of threatening interstate communication.
Kurkowski first came to the attention of law enforcement in March, when police in Cumberland County, Pa., learned he was exchanging sexually explicit images of a minor, according to court documents.
Kurkowski allegedly admitted to traveling to Pennsylvania to find the boy and continuing a “relationship” after the minor tried to end the online communication.
In April, he was charged in Cumberland County Court with multiple felonies and sentenced to 142 days in prison, followed by probation. Terms of Kurkowski’s probation included, among other things, registering as a sex offender, not possession weapons and refraining from behavior that may present a danger to others.
According to the criminal complaint, in December authorities once again began investigating Kurkowski’s online communications and sexual exploitation of a minor, this time in Illinois. In January, members of law enforcement reviewed several messages from Kurkowski to the minor.
The messages allegedly described in graphic detail a plan to travel to Pennsylvania, where Kurkowski would murder the parents of his former victim, rape his sister, then kill her in front of the former victim.
On Feb. 4, Owatonna police learned Kurkowski had bought a bus ticket and was currently en route to Pennsylvania. The FBI was able to track him to a bus stop in Toledo, Ohio, where he was arrested with a bag containing the flex cuffs, electrical tape, a taser and a knife.
The investigation revealed Kurkowski was also reportedly engaging in the sexual exploitation of a third minor, this one in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
The case involved authorities with the FBI, the Owatonna Police Department, the Upper Allen Township (Pa.) Police Department, the East Peoria (Ill.) Police Department and the Cedar Falls (Iowa) Police Department.
A date for Kurkowski’s initial appearance in Minnesota federal court hasn’t been set.