A one-time candidate for the Arizona House of Representatives who is a self-confessed sex addict remains in the Cochise County jail in lieu of $100,000 bail after being arrested for possession of hundreds of images of child pornography.
Mark Snyder-Stonebraker was taken into custody March 30 on suspicion of six counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, Arizona’s child pornography statute. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing April 11 unless formally indicted by a county grand jury beforehand.
Snyder-Stonebaker, 73, has been politically active in Cochise County, and in 2012 he filed as a Democrat candidate to represent Legislative District 14. He came under investigation in February when an Internet Protocol (IP) address used to connect to a Dropbox “cloud” data storage account containing illicit images of children was tracked to a Sierra Vista address.
Sierra Vista Det. Thomas Ransford quickly identified Snyder-Stonebraker as the suspect. In addition, the email account connected to the IP address matches the email listed on Snyder-Stonebraker’s old legislative campaign documents.
The initial tip referenced 10 suspected images of child pornography in the Dropbox account. Ransford secured several search warrants as part of his investigation, leading to the discovery of a cache of nearly 500 unlawful images of prepubescent girls, many between the ages of 10 to 14.
During a post-Miranda interview, Snyder-Stonebraker described himself to Ransford as “a sex addict” and talked about attending meetings of Sex Addicts Anonymous.
“He stated they advised him never to admit to looking at the images,” Ransford noted in his report. “Stonebraker stated he has had an issue with thoughts of child sex for the last 20 years but never touched a child.”
Public records show additional charges are being pursued against Snyder-Stonebraker based on other images discovered on various computer and electronic devices seized from his residence. In addition, Ransford’s investigation continues into Snyder-Stonebaker’s admission of using a second cloud-based account.
Ransford said Tuesday there is no evidence to suggest Snyder-Stonebraker engaged in sexual abuse of children. It also appears the images were produced by someone other than Snyder-Stonebraker.
Arizona Daily Independent has reported on numerous possession of child pornography cases. Prosecutors have consistently said there is no pattern of economic, occupational, educational, nor political-leaning characteristics among those with such an interest.
For example, former Arizona Ranger – Sierra Vista Company Commander Thomas “Mike” Dennis was convicted on federal child pornography charges after more than 2,500 images were found on his various computer devices during searched of his Sierra Vista home and real estate office.
Dennis, a registered Republican and longtime volunteer for the Miss Sierra Vista competition, admitted in his plea deal that he possessed and distributed images “depicting prepubescent children under the age of 12, toddlers, and children being subjected to bondage and sadistic conduct.” He died in 2017 while serving a multi-year sentence. He was 76.