A 36-year-old American citizen who has been living in Thailand for 11 years and working as a schoolteacher, was arrested at San Francisco International Airport for allegedly possessing over 100 gigabytes of pornographic material featuring minors.
The initial arrest by US Customs and Border Patrol occurred on June 20, as Bay Area News Group reports, but the story does not end there. 36-year-old Zachary Snoderly was reportedly fairly upfront about what was on his electronic devices, telling CBP agents that he used Telegram to download the illicit material.
When asked by agents whether his devices contained "digital contraband," Snoderly reportedly replied, "Probably."
It appears that Snoderly was already known to federal agents, perhaps from an earlier arrest that has not been disclosed. According to prosecutors, Snoderly was already on a watch list for "secondary inspection and questioning related to possession of child pornography" when he came through customs at SFO.
Snoderly was reportedly headed home to Idaho to visit his father, and he was released after agents seized his passport, pending a full review of his electronic devices.
Agents said they seized hard drives as well as his cellphone and laptop, and images they found including some taken from what appeared to be public places, including a children's classroom. Snoderly taught second grade in Thailand.
According to prosecutors, Snoderly was re-arrested on August 24 — either at SFO or another airport — after he'd obtained a new passport (somehow) and had booked a return trip to Thailand. He's now in federal custody, and was charged on August 25 with possession of child sexual abuse material on his phone.
Photo by Duke Cullinan
