Man gets 17 years in child pornography case

A rural Carlton County man who posted a sexual image of a minor online was sentenced to prison for more than 17 years for one count of production and attempted production of child pornography. The sentence was announced in U.S. District Court last month.

Cord Cameron Schipman, 34, of Blackhoof Township in Carlton County, pleaded guilty in June and was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz on Nov. 21 to 210 months at the federal prison in Sandstone, requested by the defendant so he could be closer to family.

Schipman was arrested last fall after an FBI covert operation revealed “sexually explicit contact” with a minor, including an explicit photograph. According to the criminal complaint, a 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, who was known to him, 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 vehicle and license plate visible in the background.

“Been grooming for awhile,” he messaged the FBI agent, who was based in Alabama. “Today it happens.”

Investigators traced the address of the car to Schipman’s home in Blackhoof Township. They also traced internet IP addresses associated with the messages and/or photographs to the same address.

The Carlton County Sheriff’s Office learned of the FBI investigation in September 2023, and issued and executed search warrants the same day on Schipman, his home and vehicle.

According to the criminal complaint, Schipman allegedly confirmed he was part of the Kik chat group and that he took the photo of a juvenile girl posted there. Schipman allegedly admitted to possessing over 10 images of child sexual abuse, including the photo he took.

Because the iPhone Schipman used to create the image of the juvenile was manufactured from parts originating outside the state of Minnesota, and the internet messaging platform he used is also a means of interstate and international communication, federal charges could be applied. Those often come with longer sentences for sex crimes, in this case a mandatory minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years. State charges for the same crime were dismissed as a result of the federal case.