A Minnesota State Patrol trooper has been charged with production of child pornography, the state’s U.S. Attorney Office’s announced Thursday.

Jeremy Francis Plonski, 29, was arrested on a federal warrant after being charged with one count.

Jeremy Francis Plonski (Courtesy of the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office)

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office has zero tolerance for public officials who violate federal laws — particularly those laws that protect vulnerable children from sexual abuse,” said Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Lisa Kirkpatrick in a statement. “… While donning his uniform, Plonski committed one of the most vile and predatory offenses imaginable.”

Court documents weren’t publicly available Thursday and it wasn’t immediately clear whether the alleged offense happened while Plonski was on or off-duty, or whether he has an attorney.

Plonski became a state trooper in 2022 and is on leave, with an internal affairs investigation underway.

“The allegations in this case are appalling and indefensible,” said State Patrol Col. Christina Bogojevic in a statement. “… No badge, no title and no position will ever place anyone above the law. Protecting the vulnerable is our duty. Anyone who violates that duty has no place in this organization or in our profession.”

The FBI investigated, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office also thanked the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Shakopee police.

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CLEVELAND — Byron Buxton wasn’t sure what, exactly, he was being lauded for on Wednesday night when DaShawn Keirsey Jr. approached him to offer his congratulations.

“DK was like, ‘Congrats,” and I was like, ‘On what?’” Buxton said.

Soon after, he was informed that he had become just the third player in team history to record 100 home runs and 100 stolen bases with the Twins when he swiped second base in the seventh inning of Wednesday’s game. Buxton, who has 139 career home runs, accomplished the first half of the feat during the the 2023 season.

“I’m blessed,” he said. “Obviously, to put this uniform on and be able to have the opportunity to do something like that is special.”

Buxton, who accomplished the feat in his 800th game as a Twin, joins pretty good company.

Only Kirby Puckett, who hit 207 home runs and stole 134 bases in his career and Torii Hunter have done the same. In 12 years with the Twins, Hunter hit 214 home runs and stole 128 bases. In his career, which lasted 19 years in total, he hit 353 with 195 stolen bases.

“I told some guys earlier, just being in a group with those top two center fielders that put on this uniform, that played the position that I’m playing … like I said, it’s special,” Buxton said. “It’s hard to put into words now.”

He’s also just the 26th active player to reach the 100 home run/100 steal milestone.

“There’s only so many guys that have the ability to contribute in those different ways,” manager Rocco Baldelli.  “It’s a great accomplishment, but he’s going to accomplish even further things related to this, related to his legs and his bat.”

All of Buxton’s steals, notably, have been of second base as Buxton, 31, has yet to steal third in a regular-season game. Though with his speed, he can score on a majority of hits that find the outfield grass.

In his career, Buxton has only been caught 12 times and his 89.3% stolen base percentage is the highest in MLB history among players who have 100 steals.

“He takes off well, he’s fast on the way and he knows what to do around the bag,” Baldelli said. “He has a really good feel for the times he should go and the times he probably shouldn’t go. Just having that baseball sense, and the awareness and instinct, it’s a big deal. It’s a big part of stealing bases and he has it.”

Though he’s maintained his elite speed, he has run less in recent years because of a number of injuries, including a knee issue that required two surgeries in consecutive offseasons.

Already, he’s matched the number of stolen bases (seven) that he stole in all of 2024, a sign that he’s feeling good physically.

“The way he’s moving has been … the best his body has been working and as explosive as he’s been, probably the best since ’19 or ’20,” Baldelli said. “The way we score runs and manufacture things and make things happen is just different when he’s able to run like that and move like that.”

Briefly

The Twins will head to Boston for a three-game series with the Red Sox beginning at 6:10 p.m. CT. Joe Ryan, who has a 3.18 ERA across six outings this season, is scheduled to start. … Royce Lewis, who is rehabbing from a hamstring injury, had a scheduled day off on Thursday after playing Tuesday and Wednesday for the Saints. Lewis has played in four rehab games thus far.

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In last week’s episode of “Survivor 48,” Eagan native Eva Erickson’s alliance of five physically strong castaways — her day-one ally Joe Hunter, stuntman David Kinne, debate professor Shauhin Davari and lawyer Kyle Fraser — seemed to fracture after they turned on one of their own and voted out Kinne.

Erickson, the show’s first openly autistic player, opened this week’s episode by consoling Kinne’s ally, substance abuse counselor Mary Zheng. Sort of, anyway.

“I’m really, really sorry,” she told Zheng. “I mean, I really, really like you and I like working with you.”

Erickson then explained she’d keep Zheng around as long as she can, but offered little hope beyond that: “I’m not gonna promise I’m not gonna write your name down, but I am gonna tell you if it is your name I’m gonna tell you beforehand.”

Grasping for straws, Zheng asked if Erickson would play her idol for her. The answer? Nope.

As Erickson explained to the camera: “I really like Mary and I don’t want to have bad blood between us. That’s why I’m being straightforward and telling the truth, but I’ve picked my people I want to work with and she’s not part of that. I have a strong four that I’m working with now, being myself, Joe, Shauhin and Kyle.

“We really hold a lot of power because I’ve built up an artillery of weapons to protect me and my allies. I have the hidden immunity idol, I have a safety without power (advantage). And with all that, we can get to that final four and everyone else can’t really do much about it.”

Much of the rest of the episode seemed to prove Erickson’s point. With eight players left in the game, and Erickson’s strong alliance of four, that left Zheng, physical education coach Mitch Guerra, software engineer Kamilla Karthigesu and sales expert Star Toomey to fend for themselves. Although they talked about various options, the four loose cannons never came to a firm agreement on what to do next.

During a rare standalone reward challenge, Fraser won an afternoon picnic of chicken and waffles on a nearby island. Host Jeff Probst allowed him to choose three people to join him and he went with Erickson, Karthigesu and Davari.

Erickson was once again thrilled to have the chance to eat, telling the camera: “Food changes everything. Without food, you’re so depleted you can barely stand up. I don’t think people at home realize that one meal actually does make all the difference.”

Also, Erickson explained that she had fun on the reward, but reiterated the strength of her alliance.

“Obviously I’m big fans of Kyle and Shauhin and Kamilla is so cool in her own right,” she said. “We’re just having a great time. And I don’t picture anyone trying to make a move on me or my core people. I feel unconcerned with the next few votes.”

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Hunter went on to win the immunity challenge and, with a fifth vote from Zheng, the alliance sent Toomey packing.

During tribal council, Probst asked the castaways various questions about the mood at camp. He turned to Erickson and said: “Was it paranoia (or) was it very calm, despite a big vote coming?”

Erickson’s answer yet again confirmed her alliance of four is looking like they will be the show’s final four.

“I think we knew what we were doing,” she said. “I think that everyone’s going to do what we had discussed, and there isn’t a bunch of crazy stuff going on. It’s just, we’re like, ‘Yep, next one’s going. Next one. Let’s keep this rolling.’ ”

“Survivor 48” airs at 7 p.m. Wednesdays on CBS and streams the next day on Paramount+.

By JENNIFER PELTZ and MICHAEL R. SISAK

NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein ’s lawyers got their turn Thursday to question a woman who alleges the one-time Hollywood heavyweight held her down and forced oral sex on her nearly two decades ago.

Miriam Haley, testifying for a third day at Weinstein’s rape retrial, was grilled about details of her recollections — such as exactly how she once propped open an apartment building door — and the bigger picture of her story.

Defense lawyer Jennifer Bonjean underscored that Haley, who was then looking for entertainment production work, stayed in touch with Weinstein despite feeling humiliated when he complimented her legs and asked for a massage at a meeting a few months before the alleged 2006 assault.

“You understood these were sexual overtures?” Bonjean asked.

Haley said she did.

“You rebuffed them, and he still gave you his phone number, right?”

“Yes,” said Haley, who got a short gig on the Weinstein-produced “Project Runway” shortly after that meeting, which happened in his company’s hotel suite during the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

Haley has repeatedly testified that she was pursuing only job opportunities, nothing else, from Weinstein.

Bonjean also sparred with the witness over her decision to get a lawyer and hold a press conference airing her allegations as the #MeToo movement exploded in October 2017, fueled by other women’s claims that the Oscar-winning producer had sexually assaulted or harassed them.

Weinstein, 73, has pleaded not guilty and denies sexually assaulting anyone. His lawyers argue that all of his accusers consented to sexual encounters in hopes of getting work in show business.

Haley, who has also gone by the name Mimi Haleyi, is the first of three accusers expected to testify at the retrial. She is reprising and adding some new details to testimony that led to Weinstein’s since-overturned 2020 conviction.

She testified Wednesday that Weinstein assaulted her after inviting her to his apartment for what she expected to be a friendly, professional meeting. She said he pushed her onto a bed, ignoring her pleas of: “No, no — it’s not going to happen.”

She and two friends testified that she told them soon after that Weinstein had sexually assaulted her.

Haley testified that she took a prearranged flight to Los Angeles on Weinstein’s dime the next day, and a few weeks later agreed to meet him at a Manhattan hotel. She said she had expected to talk in the lobby, but was instead directed to his room, where she says she had unwanted, but not forced, sex with him.

Even after that, Haley testified, she kept in touch, sometimes sending emails signed “Lots of love” to Weinstein and his assistant. She said that she was still trying to capitalize professionally on knowing Weinstein and that she “suppressed a lot of things” to cope with them.

Bonjean pointed out Thursday that when Haley went public in 2017, she didn’t mention her subsequent sexual encounter with Weinstein, nor their continued contact.

“You told the press only part of the story, correct?” Bonjean asked.

“I told the part that was relevant to what I was trying to share,” Haley said.

She denied Bonjean’s suggestion that she spoke out in hopes of suing Weinstein, though she later sued and got a roughly $475,000 settlement.

Focusing on the Cannes meeting, Bonjean pressed Haley on what to make of the fact that she had secured a meeting with a top producer while she had limited experience herself.

“So, as somebody in my position, I should have turned it down, is what you’re saying?” Haley shot back.

“I’m not saying you should have done anything,” Bonjean replied.

She will step away from Weinstein’s defense team to attend to another trial after she finishes questioning Haley, who is due back on the stand Friday.

Weinstein’s retrial includes charges related to Haley and another accuser from the original trial, Jessica Mann, who alleges Weinstein raped her in 2013. He’s also being tried, for the first time, for allegedly forcing oral sex on former model Kaja Sokola in 2006.

Mann and Sokola also are expected to testify.

The Associated Press generally does not name people who allege they’ve been sexually assaulted unless they give permission for their names to be used. Haley, Mann and Sokola have done so.