A former assistant Anoka County attorney is facing 26 felony charges after investigators say she helped run a sex trafficking organization that operated across the Twin Cities metro for years, collecting cash from victims and funneling it through shell companies she allegedly helped create. Andrea Leigh Sampson, who worked in the county attorney's Family Law and Civil Division, was booked into Hennepin County Jail this week and remains held on $1 million bail.
According to the criminal complaint, Sampson is charged with 13 counts each of promoting prostitution and receiving profits from prostitution, as first detailed by CBS News. Prosecutors allege the operation was led by 57-year-old Frank Devone Reeves of Champlin, with Sampson, 30-year-old Viktoriya Sergeyevna Komonash, and 36-year-old Katherine Michelle Thomes accused of assisting him, according to court records cited by Limitless Media News. Thomes is accused of owning and operating the website Minnesota Erotica Personals, which was used to post women for commercial sex transactions.
The complaint states that Sampson and the two other women appeared to believe they were in a romantic or sexual relationship with Reeves, who allegedly operated the enterprise for years. At least 13 women told law enforcement they had been offered for commercial sex through the organization and were required to hand over their earnings, per the complaint. Court documents state that victims had to pay the operation at least $100 per transaction, with one recruited at age 19 in 2022 and another at age 18 in 2025, according to FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Alleged Violence and Coercion Behind the Operation
The complaint describes conditions well beyond financial pressure. Multiple victims accused Reeves of sexual assault, and other members of the group allegedly blocked exit doors, according to charging documents cited by FOX 9. Victims reportedly were given alcohol and cocaine, and an armed man showed up at times to help keep victims in line, the complaint states.
Reeves and Komonash allegedly recruited and posted numerous women for commercial sex, setting rates for appointments and collecting the resulting profits, per the complaint. The organization is alleged to have operated across Minneapolis, Bloomington, Eden Prairie, and St. Louis Park. Those suburban corridors have drawn dedicated law enforcement attention before — Eden Prairie and Bloomington both take part in multi-agency task forces targeting trafficking networks tied to hotel and apartment corridors, a pattern Hoodline detailed in its report on the 494 corridor task force.
Minneapolis Properties Allegedly Used for Ads and Transactions
Sampson owned at least two properties in Minneapolis that investigators say became operational hubs for the ring. Charging documents specify the properties sat on the 3000 block of Harriet Avenue and the 2300 block of University Avenue Northeast, where victims were allegedly photographed for online ads and where sex acts occurred, according to FOX 9. The complaint alleges Sampson also helped create and maintain corporations that appeared to be shell companies, which investigators say were used to hide or funnel proceeds from the operation.
Organization proceeds were allegedly deposited into accounts before being moved into bank accounts belonging to corporations Sampson had created, according to the complaint. Beyond the commercial sex operation, investigators allege that Reeves, Sampson, and Komonash were simultaneously involved in operating assisted-living and autism-service sites, collecting revenue through those entities as well, per Limitless Media News.
County Office Moved Quickly Once Alerted
Anoka County Attorney Brad Johnson confirmed that Sampson was placed on administrative leave on February 25, 2026, the day law enforcement alerted office leadership to the investigation. Her employment with the office ended on March 9, 2026, Johnson said. The office's swift removal of Sampson came as the case against her was still developing following a lengthy probe led by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's Predatory Crimes Agents alongside the Minnesota Human Trafficking Investigators Task Force, a statewide framework organized under state law, according to Limitless Media News. Law enforcement agencies including the BCA had been investigating the operation since 2021.
The criminal complaint against Sampson was filed last Thursday, and she was booked into Hennepin County Jail under case number 27-CR-26-20948. Her first court appearance is scheduled for Monday. Under Minnesota Statute § 609.322, promoting prostitution of an adult and receiving profits from adult prostitution are each felony offenses carrying maximum penalties of up to 20 years in prison and a $40,000 fine per count, according to the MN Revisor's Office.
Sampson's case adds to a string of Minnesota prosecutions this year tied to online commercial sex operations, including a Shoreview man arrested earlier this year in a separate Minneapolis trafficking probe and a St. Cloud man charged with running a pay-app prostitution scheme, both detailed in Hoodline's earlier coverage of a Shoreview arrest. Whether additional charges — including possible federal racketeering or tax counts given the multi-city transactions and shell company transfers alleged in the complaint — will follow remains an open question, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven otherwise in court.
