Man faces child porn charges in state and federal court

A rural Carlton County man faces both state and federal child pornography charges after an FBI covert operation revealed an alleged sexual photograph and contact with a minor.

Cord Cameron Schipman, 33, was charged in U.S. District Court Sept. 29 with a single count of production and attempted production of child pornography. He was charged Oct. 3 in Carlton County Sixth District Court with one count each of first and second degree criminal sexual conduct with a victim under the age of 16, plus one count of disseminating pornographic work of a minor, also a felony.

The Carlton County Sheriff’s Office learned of the FBI investigation on Sept. 27. According to the criminal complaint, a special online covert FBI employee was searching chat rooms on Kik Messenger, which the National Center on Sexual Exploitation calls A “Predator’s Paradise.”

They found a post by Schipman under the name Cord218 in a chat room touted as trading images of adult men abusing young girls.

In a series of private messages with the covert agent, Schipman allegedly admitted to grooming his victim and allegedly sent a sexually explicit photo of the child to the undercover agent. He also allegedly posted several images of the victim to the group chat, including one that showed a car and license plate visible in the background.

Investigators traced the address of the car to Schipman’s home near Barnum; they also traced internet IP addresses associated with the messages and/or photographs to the same address.

According to the criminal complaint, search warrants were issued and executed on Schipman, his home and vehicle Sept. 27. He allegedly confirmed he was part of the Kik chat group and that he took a photo of a juvenile girl posted there. Schipman allegedly admitted to possessing over 10 images of child sexual abuse, including the one he took.

The alleged victim was interviewed by experts two days later and did not disclose any abuse or anyone taking photos or videos of her without clothing.

Schipman was originally arrested Sept. 27 and released to home detention Oct. 3. Two days later, on Oct. 5, he was picked up on a state warrant. As of Oct. 8, he was still in custody in Carlton County jail with bail set at $300,000.