James Hagen - Cropped

A Ryder man charged with possession of child sexual abuse material has been granted a suspended sentence and probation after entering into a plea agreement with Ward County prosecutors.

James Alfred Hagen, 46, had pleaded guilty in December to three counts of possession of certain materials prohibited, a Class C felony. Hagen appeared for sentencing in North Central District Court before Judge Steven Lautt on Thursday, May 28, following a months-long presentence investigation process. Four additional counts of possession of certain materials prohibited were dismissed in accordance with the plea agreement.

According to court documents, Hagen was charged in May 2025 after the Ward County Sheriff’s Department investigated eight cybertips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children involving child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on a messaging application. The CSAM reportedly involved children as young as 10 years old.

Additional information was provided by North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation investigators linked the accounts in question to the IP address at Hagen’s Ryder address, and unearthed a video of a male identified as Hagen uploaded to one of the accounts.

A search warrant was obtained and executed on Dec. 10, 2024 for Hagen’s residence, resulting in the seizure of two cell phones containing CSAM.

Hagen was interviewed by investigators after being advised of his rights, and admitted he used the messaging app to view and share adult pornography and would sometimes receive “questionable” material from other users, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

Hagen was initially scheduled for a March 2026 jury trial before the plea deal materialized following a filing by Hagen’s attorney Kyle Craig seeking to suppress the evidence borne from the Dec. 10, 2024 search warrant.

Craig argued law enforcement had exceeded the scope of the warrant by detaining and searching Hagen after he arrived at his residence after the search warrant had been executed. Craig claimed one of Hagen’s cell phones which contained CSAM was taken by law enforcement after he was searched on the roadside outside the premises of the residence. Craig said no body camera footage of the execution of the warrant has been provided by law enforcement, which Deputy Ward County State’s attorney Tiffany Sorgen said in her response was not functioning at the time of the encounter.

Sorgen cited a report from the arresting deputies, which said a Garrison school bus was observed pulling up in front of the residence before the warrant was executed, and that Hagen exited the vehicle and entered the home. Hagen was detained after exiting the residence according to Sorgen, and was located at the address set forth in the search.

A motion hearing was scheduled and canceled twice based on court records, leading up to Hagen’s change of plea on Dec. 8, 2025.

Lautt sentenced Hagen a concurrent sentence across all three counts of five years with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, with all but one day suspended pending the completion of three years of supervised probation. Hagen was given credit for one day already served. Hagen was ordered to register as a sex offender and to pay $525 in court fines and fees.