FARGO – North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley said that multiple agencies in Cass County are working in tandem with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) on an investigation into sharing of child sex abuse material (CSAM).
In a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Wrigley said a School Resource Officer was first made aware that CSAM had been created with reference to a child in April 2025. He said that the images were believed to have been made in 2023 and shared by a high school student.
The investigation began in May 2025.
He said the first victim in the cases is a middle school aged student.
West Fargo Police were initially made aware of the situation and then they informed the BCI. Subsequently it was then determined that Snapchat was the app involved.
The investigation, in August, showed a ‘web of Snapchat accounts’ receiving, and some sharing, CSAM.
“These young people are victims, and they are suffering,” Wrigley said. “It is inappropriate to blame the victims in these instances. Some of the victims are already being harassed. It has to stop, it shouldn’t have started.”
He said authorities were originally led to 24 phones through an electronic trail from the initial victim.
“The investigation is growing beyond that,” Wrigley said.
On Monday, search warrants were executed in 30 additional phones – with at least 20 of them being seized.
Some of the phones seized have already been returned to the owners.
Wrigley said there has been a ‘wide degree’ of cooperation from parents, and asked others to ‘conduct themselves in the same way’ that the cooperating parents are.
As far as ages of those responsible, Wrigley said some are still juveniles while others are adults now – but a majority are still high school students.
While Wrigley says the only charges that may be filed will be sent to the Cass County State’s Attorney’s Office for prosecution under state statute, there could be possible federal charges filed. His intent, however, is to pursue only state charges.
When asked about use of artificial intelligence in creating the images, Wrigley said it ‘was used in a great number of images’ that investigators have already uncovered.
While the only school publicly known to have had search warrants executed at is Fargo Davies, Wrigley said there ‘are more schools involved’ than just Davies.
“We are focused on serious criminal conduct,” he said.
There is no timeline established as to when charges could be filed, and when they are, Wrigley said, there’s no deadline on when a decision whether or not to move forward would be made by State’s Attorney Kim Hegvik’s office.
