A 36-year-old Howell man who spent three seasons as a volunteer youth soccer coach was arraigned in federal court in Detroit on charges of sexual exploitation of children and child pornography offenses, after FBI agents searched his home last month and took him into custody while his wife and three young children were inside. Jacob Sampson had passed background checks in both 2023 and 2025 before he was arrested.
Sampson is charged with sexual exploitation of children, selling or buying of children, and activities related to material constituting or containing child pornography, according to WHMI. Federal court documents reported by The Livingston Post state that Sampson is accused of sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl while she was staying at his home between July 2024 and July 2026, and subsequently sharing recordings of the assault online. FBI agents executed the search warrant at Sampson's Howell residence on July 21, taking him into custody while his wife and three children, ages 3, 6, and 9, remained inside the home, as reported by WXYZ.
Allegations of Coercion Days Before the Raid
FBI investigators allege that on July 18, just three days before agents searched his home, Sampson knowingly coerced a 7-year-old child to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of recording the act. Per the federal complaint cited by WHMI, Sampson's primary interest, according to the complaint, focused on female children ages 6 to 13. An FBI investigation revealed that Sampson used the Kik app to receive and distribute sexually abusive material involving children online, and he allegedly admitted to saving child pornographic images and videos as well as uploading files to a Dropbox account.
Federal court records relayed by WDIV, via a post shared on Facebook by LivingstonNOW, add further detail: Sampson allegedly admitted to downloading an Onion web browser to access dark net sites, operating on Kik under variations of the username bobsmith, and viewing explicit material the night before agents searched his home. Messaging platforms like Kik use automated hash-matching technology to scan uploads against databases of known abuse material, a system that automatically generates CyberTipline reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to alert federal investigators, according to a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
A Clean Record Before the Charges
Sampson had no prior criminal record before the federal charges, and the Howell Area Parks and Recreation Authority says it received no complaints about inappropriate conduct by Sampson from a patron, parent, or child. HAPRA runs a complete background check before permitting anyone to volunteer as a coach, and it also runs follow-up background checks every second year while volunteers continue coaching. The organization completed an initial background investigation on Sampson in 2023 and a follow-up in 2025, and both times the checks came back clean with no red flags that raised concerns about permitting him to coach, per HAPRA's account relayed by WHMI.
Sampson was a volunteer coach on his children's soccer teams during the 2023 through 2025 seasons. HAPRA operates youth programs and sports leagues serving residents across multiple Livingston County municipalities, including the City of Howell as well as Genoa, Marion, and Oceola Townships, according to the Livingston Post's reporting. In a statement, HAPRA said the federal charges had nothing to do with Sampson's service as a volunteer coach at the organization, and the authority said it will cooperate with federal, state, and local requests for information about him.
Statutory Sentencing Exposure
Under 18 U.S.C. § 2251, a federal conviction for sexual exploitation of children or production of child sexual abuse material carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison and up to 30 years, per the U.S. Department of Justice. A conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 2252A for receipt or distribution of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum of 5 years and up to 20 years for a first-time offender, meaning the federal minimums apply even to someone with no prior criminal record, as Sampson had before his arrest.
Sampson is due back in court for a final pre-trial hearing on September 17. HAPRA said it will maintain its commitment to provide a safe recreation environment for its community, patrons, and their children, but the authority said it will provide no further comment on the subject until Sampson's criminal referral is concluded.
Part of a Broader Federal Push
The case comes amid what the FBI's Detroit Division described in July as a regional uptick in child predator arrests and online exploitation investigations across Eastern Michigan, according to Local 4 Detroit. In May 2025, the Department of Justice announced the results of Operation Restore Justice, a five-day nationwide crackdown by all 55 FBI field offices that rescued 115 children and led to 205 arrests of child sex abuse offenders nationwide, including five defendants in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, per the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan. Open questions remain about whether additional victims could be identified through ongoing digital forensic review, and whether HAPRA or other local recreation boards will reconsider volunteer screening procedures in light of the case.
