18-year-old indicted on federal child pornography charges
A former Eastern Michigan University student was charged Tuesday with three counts of child pornography for having numerous pictures and videos of unclothed children under the age of 12 on his computer, according to federal court records.
A grand jury indicted Jacob Snyder, 18, on a count each of distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography, the records indicate.
The pornography was located on Snyder’s Dell laptop after a warrant was executed at his father’s home in the 5800 block of Textile Road in Ypsilanti Township, according to an affidavit signed by Bradley Manning, a special agent with the United States Customs Service.
Officials believe some of the child pornography was obtained through his father’s IP address at the Textile address. The computer was searched with Snyder's consent, according to the affidavit.
He was also interviewed twice on Sept. 27, 2012, first at his dormitory room on the EMU campus, then at the Textile Road residence.
Court records state Snyder was a freshman at the time. The EMU student directory shows he is no longer enrolled.
Snyder told federal authorities he used peer-to-peer file sharing networks like Limewire and Ares, records show. A forensic examination of the Dell computer, which Snyder received as a Christmas gift in 2011, reveals that Ares software was downloaded on it.
In the interviews, Snyder admitted to using the service “for maintaining and trafficking child pornography” while using the Internet access subscribed to by his father.
Court records indicate Snyder used Ares and Google to search terms like “sexy” and “teen.”
Snyder told authorities he would delete “stuff” that he considered “gross” because the subjects were too young, according to the affidavit. When asked by investigators what was too young, Snyder said, “8” in the first interview and “15” in the second.
Snyder admitted his Dell Laptop contained child pornography, “and that he had additional hard drives containing child pornography in a storage locker that was part of a storage business owned by his family,” according to the court records.
Ypsilanti police said this case was not related to the July incident involving child pornography being found in the National Storage Center. Detective Sgt. Thomas Eberts said the investigation into that case continues.
On Snyder's computer, officials eventually found 47 images and 171 videos depicting children, including some under the age of 12, “engaged in the lascivious display of the genital and pubic area,” court records indicate.
Synder was released into his mother’s custody on $10,000 bond with several conditions, including no unsupervised contact with minors and that he not view or possess any sexually explicit material.
A preliminary examination is set for Friday and a jury trial before Judge Denise Page Hood in U.S. District Court for Oct. 1.
No booking picture of Snyder was available, a federal official said.
John Counts covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at johncounts@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
Shahin21
Sun, Aug 25, 2013 : 9:38 p.m.
Hate to see this happen to Jacob. He was a very interesting character back at Skyline.
UloveM
Sat, Aug 24, 2013 : 9:06 p.m.
What will you think if 1) a 80+ old man having numerous pictures and videos of unclothed young women under the age of 18 on his computer? 2) a 28+ old woman having one picture of unclothed young man under the age of 18 on her computer? 3) a 80+ old man dating women under age 28? 4) a 48+ old woman dating men under age 45?
matt1027
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 2:22 p.m.
Ok, amend my statement to "Under 16 in any circumstance is a crime... over 18 in any circumstance is legal. Period" Im not sure what you are trying to excuse with these scenarios. He was looking at children under 12. Thats sick,and a step towards rape.
UloveM
Sun, Aug 25, 2013 : 11:30 p.m.
The age of consent in Michigan is 16 and there is no close in age exception, unless one is an authority figure in which case the age of consent is 18. 750.520d Criminal sexual conduct in the third degree; felony. Sec. 520d. (1) A person is guilty of criminal sexual conduct in the third degree if the person engages in sexual penetration with another person and if any of the following circumstances exist: (a) That other person is at least 13 years of age and under 16 years of age... In March 2012 the Michigan Senate passed a bill which was to prohibit sexual relations between students of any age and teachers.[71] It passed 36-2.[72]
matt1027
Sun, Aug 25, 2013 : 12:09 a.m.
Under 18 in any circumstance is a crime... over 18 in any circumstance is legal. Period
Laurie Barrett
Sat, Aug 24, 2013 : 8:33 p.m.
I hope the professionals can help this poor guy get healthy.
Basic Bob
Sat, Aug 24, 2013 : 5:52 p.m.
the weekend moderator must be bored, deleting harmless day old comments
matt1027
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 11:43 p.m.
You people saying he needs help are part of the problem. If looking at a nine year old (i tend to believe his first response) then he is already down a road which no decent, right-minded person goes. He needs to be locked away from all of our children. His parents already failed him, it would be horrible if he got "help" in the form of talking with some bleeding-heart counselor and escalated his behavior when he got out in public (as depraved degenerates usually do). It is sick enough to view these pictures... when he distributed them to other perverts he crossed the line of no return. Perhaps there is a chance that he can reform and live a full life. I'd rather not roll the dice at the expense of young children. I hope he is locked away, and frankly, I hope his fellow inmates get wind of what he's in for. He deserves it. I hope that before all the bleeding-heart PC wimps start clicking "vote down" they think about how they would feel if a child in their family was the victim of a criminal like this pervert.
matt1027
Sat, Aug 24, 2013 : 7:12 p.m.
Ive had my share of scabs on my knuckles. I'm proud to say that I have principles and I back them up. Hurt a child, woman, or animal in my presence and you'll find that out. Around this sad bunch a wimps i'd probably end up with more jail time than this disgusting pervert too. Anyone who votes the statement that viewing children in porn down is part of the problem and should be ashamed.
AdmiralMoose
Sat, Aug 24, 2013 : 12:21 a.m.
Matt, how can you type with all those bleeding scabs on your knuckles?
mhirzel
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 3:32 p.m.
A teenager interested in "sexy teens"???? How vile! (???) How many of us commenting can remember what we were like at that age, with sex hormones raging, but sex life not really launched..... We did not yet have the temptation of scratching that itch with the click of a button. How many of us would have simply clicked, out of dumb - and perhaps uninformed - adolescent curiosity? How many of us would now be incarcerated/on sex offender lists, etc. if we did? Obviously, the sexual exploitation of children is a heinous crime which has been going on for far too long.....as in thousands of years. But doe anyone else see any problem with treating curious teenagers as dangerous felons for not being able to resist this temptation?
matt1027
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 11:45 p.m.
Looking at over eighteen xxx is one thing....he responded that nine year olds were acceptable to view. Anyone who believes his later response after he had time to think about it is an idiot.
justcurious
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 8:45 p.m.
"But doe anyone else see any problem with treating curious teenagers as dangerous felons" No
mhirzel
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 8:15 p.m.
Well, that's nice to know, Angry. It is, however, entirely irrelevant to my comment.
Angry Moderate
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 5:19 p.m.
Personally, I've never been tempted to look at pornography of 9 year olds.
justcurious
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 3:24 p.m.
......"Synder was released into his mother's custody ....".
matt1027
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 11:47 p.m.
released....what a world...if he'd stolen property he'd likely be in jail. look at abused young children and he's released to one of the people who failed miserably in the first place. It would be a shame if something terrible happened to him while out....or not.
Usual Suspect
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 3:19 p.m.
I really don't see any significance in the fact it was a Dell laptop (or a Dell Laptop, in one case). Was that thrown in for filler?
a2citizen
Sat, Aug 24, 2013 : 12:22 a.m.
Maybe Michael Dell is a Republican.
Martha Cojelona Gratis
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 11:40 a.m.
I wonder if him being 18 years old made a difference in the indictment. He was interviewed twice around this time last year when he was 17 but no indictment. Is it possible to be indicted for child pornography if you yourself are a child?
matt1027
Sat, Aug 24, 2013 : 7:14 p.m.
Please comment, whoever it was that voted down the statement that looking at child porn is vile and deserving of punishment. Better still, name a time and place and I'll see you there.
matt1027
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 11:48 p.m.
A 17 year old looking at 17 year olds is one thing. ANYONE looking at children (9) is a degenerate and should be locked away from decent society. Anyone who doesn't agree is part of the problem.
MI4Me
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 2:28 p.m.
Yes, you can be, but its an interesting point for debate. Several kids have been charged with child pornography related offences with sexting photos at various schools around the country.
Richard Smith
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 11:14 a.m.
The guy definitely needs help, hopefully he gets it. Peer to peer like limewire the feds are leaving up for what reason ? You would think if illegal activity is going on they would shut those sites down.
matt1027
Sat, Aug 24, 2013 : 12:12 a.m.
Thats like saying because some people drive drunk you should shut down bars. Or because people over eat and have health problems you should close restaurants. Let's try blaming the criminals.
Anthony
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 8:12 p.m.
Turns out, its hard to "shut down" a lot of things on a global, decentralized network like the internet. Look at the Pirate Bay.
Richard Smith
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 6:20 p.m.
thakillabee your wrong i wouldve have said in your case shut down computers... usual suspect i have seen police shut down roads to catch criminals so your wrong limewire is a side road they can shut down, internet is the highway.
Billy
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 5:13 p.m.
Except 100% of what is 'traded' on limewire is illegal.... No really....100% of it's usage is for illegitimate reasons. At least torrents serve SOME purpose as a content delivery platform....limewire and nearly every single OTHER P2P out there is used for 100% illicit reasons. I understand not throwing out the whole bunch of apples because one was rotten....HOWEVER...in the case of P2P...the entire barrel is rotten. At the bare minimum you need to call a spade a spade....
Usual Suspect
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 3:21 p.m.
Think of all the illegal activity happening on roads. Let's shut those down.
Billy
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 12:30 p.m.
Well limewire has all kinds of other legitimate uses......like sharing pirated music and movies....and....um......yeah.......
ThaKillaBee
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 12:29 p.m.
Limewire is only a tool to transmit. It's like saying phones should be made illegal because sometimes people use them to transmit or receive unlawful information. In some cases the courts can take action, but with peer-to-peer the fault is really on the "peers" and not the software.
John Counts
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 10:40 a.m.
Both "Bradley" and "Manning" are both fairly common names. That the agent in question shares the same name with a person from a completely different news story has absolutely no relevance here. Let's try to keep our attention where it belongs.
Billy
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 5:09 p.m.
So you deleted my comment eh? All that shows is that I was 100% right.
jmcmurray
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 1:43 p.m.
The more famous one now goes by Chelsea; that should clear things up.
KMHall
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 11:20 a.m.
John Thank you.
Greg
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 10:34 a.m.
Talk about a way to mess up your life. Just starting college and get busted for this. Road just got a lot harder.
mady
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 6:05 p.m.
Completely agree. Sad.
MathGeek
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 10:22 a.m.
No booking photo was available because he was 17 at the time? (I know that's not the case, so spare me the reply pointing out how dumb I am) How ironic...
John Counts
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 1:39 p.m.
To correct my earlier comment, 18 is the federal age of criminal responsibility. It is 17 for the state of Michigan. Still, Snyder was charged when he was 18 and an adult.
John Counts
Fri, Aug 23, 2013 : 10:42 a.m.
There's no indication that he was 17 at the time. Even if he was, you are considered an adult in the criminal system when you are 17. A federal official told me U.S. Marshals recently decided to not take booking pictures so one just does not exist.