Steven Snipe of West Palm Beach, Florida was indicted last Tuesday on federal child pornography and sex trafficking charges.
Snipe, 27, faces one count of producing child pornography and one count of sex trafficking involving children. The press did not name a lawyer for him.
According to the indictment, the charges are related to Snipe’s arrest last year on separate charges. In June 2017, Boynton Beach police arrested Snipe after a teenage girl told them that he sexually battered and molested her at a motel.
The sheriff’s office added other charges, alleging that Snipe took the victim to various hotels in the county in order to have sex with her. At the time, investigators were trying to determine whether to charge him with human trafficking.
Snipe allegedly met the victim at a motel in Lantana last spring and began a sexual relationship with her. The teen told police she met Snipe for the for the first time when she was being “pimped out” by two unidentified men at a Motel 6. Snipe reportedly told her that he would help her get away from the other men.
The teen said Snipe let her stay in his room and allegedly traded drugs for sex. Snipe also purportedly photographed and recorded multiple videos of their sexual encounters. He later used the images to advertise the teen for sexual services on the website Backpage.com.
When questioned by investigators, Snipe reportedly admitted to having a sexual relationship with the teen but denied posting her image online.
Human trafficking is described as the exploitation of another person for labor, domestic servitude or commercial sexual activity through the use of force, fraud or coercion. In 2017, Florida ranked third in the number of reported human-trafficking cases, with Palm Beach County ranking third in the state, investigators said.
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Source: 11.14.18 West Palm man charged with child porn, sex trafficking charges.pdf