Samuel Eric Snell, Child Exploitation, Minnesota 2024

Minnesota Man Charged with Child Exploitation

MINNEAPOLIS – A Minnesota man has been charged with multiple counts of child exploitation, announced United States Attorney Andrew M. Luger.

According to court documents, Samuel Eric Snell, 45, a.k.a. “Storm Blackwood” and “Candy Man Sam MN,” was a member of an online community on the gaming platform Discord that sold “services” to adult customers. Specifically, minor girls, referred to as “kittens,” would sell online companionship to adults, referred to as “masters,” in exchange for monetary payments, usually made through CashApp or as in-kind gifts.

Direct messages obtained from Snell’s Discord account show he actively solicited illicit images from his chat partners—many of whom self-identified as minors and indicated that they were grappling with gender identity, sexuality, and mental health concerns.

Snell followed the same script when soliciting images from these minors, beginning with a request for photos of the minors’ inner thigh and then progressing to their pubic region. In several instances, Snell solicited and received sexually-explicit images of minor victims in an intent to groom them to eventually produce child sexual abuse material.

Snell also sent his minor victims electronic sex toys that he controlled remotely, and then solicited and received depictions of them using the devices. On at least two occasions, Snell took a minor to a hotel, paid them $100 to engage in sexual intercourse, and provided emergency contraception afterwards.

Investigators believe there may be other victims relevant to this investigation. If your minor dependent(s) have been in contact with Samuel Eric Snell, please contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or tips.fbi.gov.

The indictment charges Snell with six counts of production of child pornography and two counts of coercing a minor to engage in prostitution. Snell made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court yesterday before Magistrate Judge Dulce J. Foster. A detention hearing has been scheduled for December 17, 2024.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI, with assistance from the Inver Grove Heights Police and Woodbury Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily A. Polachek is prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Mandatory Facts: Defendant Samuel Eric Snell was charged with six counts of production of child pornography and two counts of coercing a minor to engage in prostitution. The crime took place in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. The exact date of the crime was not specified. Snell is currently awaiting a detention hearing scheduled for December 17, 2024. No dollar amounts were mentioned in the press release.

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