WINONA, Minn. — The women’s tennis coach at Winona State, Tom Sanvik, was arrested on a warrant accusing him of possessing child pornography. The university confirmed the arrest and placed Sanvik on leave. He was booked at the county jail about 3:55 p.m. As tennis coach, Sanvik, age 65, held a part-time Winona State faculty position but didn’t teach formal classes. His part-time salary: $11,000.  Earlier he was at Winona High School as a phy-ed instructor and the boys and girls tennis coach going back to 1988. He also has been the Winona Tennis Association’s head instructor and camp director, as well a teaching professional at Winona Tennis Center.

Sanvik. Charge: Possession of child sexual abuse material.

What now?

It was expected that the university’s athletics director, Jennifer Flowers, would appoint the assistant tennis coach, Xao Vang, a local tennis pro, to take over.

Sanvik record

The Winona State team’s current season is young — only a Winona -hosted invitational September 6 and an Augustana-histed invitational September 13.

How team earlier performed under Sanvik:

2021: To league finals.

2022: 16-5 overall, 9-2 league.To league finals.

2023: 9-9 overall, 6-5 league. o league finals.

2024: 8-9 overall, 4-5 league.

2025: 7-12 overall, 3-6 league.

2026: The season ends in April.

How child porn cases are developed

These types of cases usually originate with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The center, which has 450 employees, monitors online traffic with an eye for uploads and downloads of lewd child images and videos. The Center, based just outside Washington, DC., is a public-private partnership. Typically, the Center passes tips on to local authorities. In Minnesota, the tips go first to the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. The Bureau then informs a relevant local police agency, usually a county sheriff’s office. Together the state and local agents proceed with an investigation. This process can take several months. In most cases the agents seek a search warrant from a judge to confiscate computer hard drives and other evidence before charges are filed. At this point the person being investigated has a pretty good idea what’s coming down. Punishment? In a 2012 case, a Winona man was sentenced to 23 years in prison.