MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Neighbors of a Minneapolis police officer accused of having sex with young girls say they’re now scared for their own children.
Bradley Schnickel is accused of contacting his victims using social media. He has not yet been charged, but parents are now having tough conversations with their teenagers.
“Just shocked,” neighbor Lori Wathen said.
The two-story home on the corner seemed to house the perfect couple.
“We thought we were safe,” Wathen said. “You know, cop next door? Awesome.”
But on Thursday, the Andover neighborhood learned Schnickel was arrested for criminal sexual conduct with a girl under age 13.
Investigators have found at least five victims, and there could be more.
“I immediately talked to my daughter to make sure nothing happened to her,” neighbor Kim Gustafson said.
She says the entire block is having tough conversations tonight.
“We’re very concerned around here,” she said. “There’s a lot of young girls right here.”
Deputies are looking at Schnickel’s online communications, and the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office says social media sites have turned over more than 9,000 pages of online communications.
Authorities say Schnickel had sex with some of the girls, but not all of them.
In a written statement today, Minneapolis’ police chief said if the allegations are true, they are “horrific and (go) against everything the department represents, our core values and our mission.”
Investigators said Schnickel hasn’t said anything to them.
He is being monitored to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself, and seeing he’s a police officer, he will be held in isolation at the Anoka County Jail.
He will likely be formally charged tomorrow.
