Southern Arizona man arrested by police, ICE HSI for alleged sexual exploitation of a minor

SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. – A local area man was arrest Thursday on six counts of sexual exploitation of minor after receiving information that illicit images were transferred online via a Sierra Vista area internet protocol (IP) address following an investigation led by the Sierra Vista Police Department assisted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Douglas office.

Mark Snyder-Stonebraker, 73, of Sierra Vista, was arrested by law enforcement following a search warrant at his a residence near the 3700 block of Choctaw Dr.

The investigation began in Feb. after officers received a National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTip from the Arizona Internet Crimes Against Children (AZICAC) Task Force. The CyberTip identified an IP address associated with Snyder-Stonebraker that was used in November 2021 to connect to an online file storage account also associated with Snyder-Stonebraker. The storage account was reported by the electronic storage provided to NCMEC as containing illicit child images.

Detectives and HSI special agents subsequently served a warrant where they recovered related evidence from the residence and Snyder-Stonebraker.

Snyder-Stonebraker was booked into the Cochise County Jail where he is being held without bond.

Anyone with information relevant to this type of case is asked to contact SVPD Detective Thomas P. Ransford at (520) 452-7500 or call the agency Tip Line at (866) 347-2423 (TTY for hearing impaired: 802-872-6196) or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. Tips can also be submitted through the online tip form.

HSI is a directorate of ICE and is the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move. HSI’s workforce of over 10,400 employees consists of more than 7,100 special agents assigned to 220 cities throughout the United States, and 80 overseas locations in 53 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.