FARGO (AP) - A Minnesota judge issued a rare public statement Thursday saying he never knew about a North Dakota investigation of an elementary school social worker before sentencing him earlier this week on a child pornography charge.

Clay County (Minn.) District Judge Galen Vaa sentenced Robert Haseltine, 50, on Tuesday to six months of home monitoring and fined him $1,000. Haseltine had pleaded guilty in January to one felony count of disseminating child pornography in Clay County.

The Forum reported Thursday that investigators found 26 separate images of what appeared to be child pornography on Haseltine's home computers in Fargo, and that they found Haseltine had sent some of those images to another man in Dilworth, Minn.

Vaa's statement said he was "surprised and distressed" to learn of the Cass County investigation and said attorneys should have told him about it before the sentencing.

"Attorneys for the parties are officers of the court and have the legal and ethical obligation to provide the court with any information that they are aware of which may be relevant to a sentencing hearing," Vaa wrote.

Cass County State's Attorney Birch Burdick told the Forum he agreed not to prosecute Haseltine at the request of the Clay County attorney's office, which he said had filed charges against Haseltine before the Fargo investigation was complete. He said he had hoped Haseltine would get a stiffer sentence, but it was a Clay County case.

Vaa said he considered letters of support he received from 39 of Haseltine's friends and co-workers. He also considered psychological reports that Haseltine had a low risk of re-offending, a low risk of sexually abusing children and a low risk of using any more child pornography, he said.

"The presentence investigation report contains no information which would have provided me with reasonable notice of the results of the criminal investigation of the defendant in Cass County," Vaa's statement said. At the sentencing hearing, he said, he had asked attorneys for both sides if there were any corrections or errors in the report.

"Incredibly, neither counsel for Clay County or counsel for the Defendant provided the court with any information whatsoever concerning the results" of the investigation in Fargo, either at the sentencing hearing or before, the judge's statement said.

Clay County Attorney Ken Kohler said he had no immediate comment on the statement. Defense attorney Mark Friese could not immediately be reached for comment.

"We are going to review some transcripts," Kohler said Thursday night. He said he would not comment until he looked at the documents.

Vaa had delayed Haseltine's sentence, meaning if Haseltine has no offenses during the next three years, the charge of disseminating child pornography will go on his record as a misdemeanor. He had been an elementary social worker and school counselor in Moorhead, Minn.

Haseltine's wife, Beth, is on leave from her job as executive director of the Fargo-Moorhead Rape and Abuse Crisis Center. The center issued a statement Thursday saying jail time and treatment should be required of anyone who engages in child pornography.

Robert Haseltine's home was searched last Aug. 16, and a computer tower and a laptop were sent to Detective Jess Schoon of the Fergus Falls, Minn., Police Department for examination, the Forum reported Thursday.

In his report, Schoon listed five e-mails with nude pictures of underage females that Robert Haseltine sent to Michael Rasmussen, of Dilworth, Minn., the newspaper said.

Rasmussen is to be sentenced Monday in Clay County, for dissemination of a pornographic work involving minors. He pleaded guilty in January.

Haseltine referred questions to Friese, his attorney, who told The Forum earlier that it never was Haseltine's defense that he didn't know he sent a photo to Rasmussen.

"He maintains that he didn't implement the necessary controls to ensure that that image was not an underage person," Friese said.

Asked whether Haseltine knew the other photos on his computer were of children, Friese said, "I don't know. Never asked him."