Former assistant Anoka County attorney helped operate sex trafficking organization, charges say
A former assistant Anoka County attorney is accused of helping run a sex trafficking organization in Hennepin County, Minnesota, according to a criminal complaint filed on Thursday.
Andrea Leigh Sampson, 35, is charged with 13 counts each of promoting prostitution of an individual and receiving profits from prostitution, court records show.
The criminal complaint said law enforcement agencies, including the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, started investigating the operation in 2021. Officials found that a 57-year-old man had been operating the organization with assistance from Sampson, a 30-year-old woman and a 36-year-old woman.
Law enforcement learned through their investigation that the man and the 30-year-old woman were "actively involved in recruiting and posting commercial sex advertisements for numerous women," set rates for appointments for "commercial sex transactions" and collected and received profits from the transactions, according to the court document.
The 36-year-old woman owned and operated the website Minnesota Erotica Personals, on which women have been "posted" for commercial sex transactions, the complaint said. She, along with the 30-year-old woman and the man, collected money from the victims posted on the website.
Sampson helped create and maintain corporations that appeared to be shell companies used to hide and/or funnel profits from the organization, according to the court document. Proceeds from the organization were allegedly collected and deposited into accounts before they were moved into bank accounts, including those of the corporations Sampson created.
Per the complaint, at least two Minneapolis properties owned by Sampson were sites where photographs of victims were taken for the advertisements and where transactions happened.
The court document, citing phone records, journal entries and other information gathered in the probe, said Sampson and the other two women appeared to believe they were in a romantic and/or sexual relationship with the man.
Law enforcement has spoken to at least 13 women who have been offered for commercial sex through the organization and provided money from their transactions to it, according to the complaint.
"Several of the victims reported to law enforcement the fact that a male yielding a gun showed up at times to help keep the victims in line after 'management' was displeased," the court document said.
In addition to Minneapolis, the organization has operated in Bloomington, Eden Prairie and St. Louis Park, according to the complaint.
Investigators also learned that Sampson, the man and the 36-year-old woman have also been operating "assisted living and/or autism sites" and are collecting money from the sites.
The Anoka County Attorney's Office said in a written statement that it was notified by law enforcement of the investigation on Feb. 25, while Sampson was still with the agency. It immediately placed her on administrative leave.
According to the statement, Sampson's last day of employment with the attorney's office was on March 9. As of Friday, she's at the Hennepin County Jail.
Anyone who suspects a trafficking situation should call the BCA at 877-996-6222 or email bca.tips@state.mn.us.You can also call the Day One Hotline at 866-223-1111 or contact them online if you or someone you know is being trafficked. Survivors and victims of human trafficking can call 888-373-7888 to reach the National Human Trafficking Hotline, or text HELP to 233733.
If you know of a child who may have been a victim of exploitation, call the National Center for Missing or Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 or visit the website.