A 20-year-old man has been charged with slyly photographing young "females' backsides" in his Eagan neighborhood and behind the counter at a fast-food outlet and then posting the images online, where they attracted sexually oriented comments on a photo-sharing website.

Tyler M. Sauve was charged Monday by the city attorney's office with various gross misdemeanors and misdemeanors, including 21 counts of disorderly conduct, one count for each of 21 people "who were upset or alarmed by the defendant's conduct," the criminal complaint read.

Sauve also is charged with five counts of criminal defamation and one count of being a public nuisance. He has yet to be arrested and has an Oct. 27 court date, police detective Desiree Schroepfer said Tuesday.

At the time the allegations surfaced in early September, Schroepfer said the photos, which were taken outdoors, were of fully clothed children and had been removed from the website.

Sauve did not return a call Tuesday afternoon seeking reaction to the charges.

According to the complaint:

Police learned of the photos and accompanying comments on a Russian-based website on Aug. 18 from the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which came upon the images while investigating an unrelated case.

The photos were of "females' backsides and also images of someone [the] defendant identifies as his 13-year-old cousin," the complaint read. There also were pictures of "the buttocks of several females working behind the counter at Jimmy John's," the court document continued.

Sauve told police that he posted the images from December to June and that "he was 'sneaky' about taking the photos," according to the charges. He added that he believes the girls would be upset by the photos and that he knew it was wrong to post them.

Sauve maintained 22 photo albums on the website with 2,146 images. However, the complaint did not say how many of those photos were connected to this case.

Michael Brodkorb, who disclosed the issue last month on a Your Voices blog he writes for the Star Tribune, said a police detective visited his home in the neighborhood and explained that the photo-sharing site where the pictures were posted "is in essence a breeding ground for sexual predators."

On Tuesday, Brodkorb said his family and others are grateful for the police work that led to the charges in "this nightmare of a situation. Today is hopefully the first step towards families and children feeling safer in the neighborhood."

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482