So when people like David and I (and, once upon a time, Ed himself) say "Minnesota is a national embarrassment", we are of course talking about the state's government. And by "the state", we mean Minnesota's state government and, let's be honest, most of the governments in the Twin Cities metro area.
Over the six years since the George Floyd riots, government at all levels in Minnesota has covered itself in ignominy.
And now it's turning to slapstick — while tying in with the state's ongoing social service fraud problem.
It started with an investigation of an assistant county prosecutor in north suburban Anoka County that went to the "charges" stage last week:
BREAKING: Former Anoka County, Minnesota assistant attorney Andrea Sampson, arrested for allegedly helping to run a s*x trafficking operation
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 16, 2026
Wtf is going on in Minnesota?!?! pic.twitter.com/lqpUS8xIoS
Andrea Leigh Sampson, 35, is charged with 13 counts of promoting prostitution and 13 counts of receiving profits from prostitution after the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and the Human Trafficking Task Force uncovered an alleged sex trafficking operation within Minneapolis, Bloomington, Eden Prairie, St. Louis Park and other surrounding areas.
According to the charging documents, the operation alleges that numerous individuals, including Sampson, obtained apartments for "commercial sex transactions." Law enforcement later learned that some of Sampson's properties were allegedly used for some of those transactions, and where photographs of the victims were taken for commercial sex ad postings.
You might think it's just another story of a petty bureaucrat getting a little something-something on the side.
Yes and no. It's more complicated than that:
Prosecutors said Sampson worked with three others in the conspiracy, including alleged ringleader Frank Reeves, 57; Viktoriya Komonash, 30, who is accused of procuring women; and Katherine Thomes, 36, who prosecutors say ran the Minnesota Erotic Personals website clients used to order women. Reeves and Komonash collected money from the victims posted on the website and put them into bank accounts maintained by Sampson.
Sampson, Reeves and Komonash also operate assisted living and autism services businesses, according to the charging documents. Prosecutors said the four were in a polyamorous sexual relationship.
Because of course they were.
Accused brothel madam Viktoriya Komonash
— Bill Glahn (@billglahn) August 17, 2026
"Subsidize me harder Daddy!" pic.twitter.com/ig6JbApd2h
Now, you might cynically ask "how does the case tie in to Medicaid Fraud", thinking you're doing a little tongue-in-cheek meta humor about Minnesota's endemic, crabgrass-like web of corruption.
But there appears to be a connection. Because of course there's a connection with Social Service fraud. It's Minnesota:
Corporate records show several companies registered to an Andrea L. Sampson, including one named Homefelt Assisted Living, LLC. This Andrea L. Sampson has a Las Vegas mailing address. State billing records show significant dollars being sent to an assisted living center under the name Homefelt. One of Homefelt’s two assisted living locations shares the same address with the alleged University Ave. NE brothel. Ownership of the property is listed in the name of a different LLC, that tracks back to that same Las Vegas address.
Court records also indicate that one of the healthcare companies, and Komonash personally, were sued earlier this month for nonpayment of a business loan. Records also indicate that Sampson is being sued for nonpayment of wages at one of the autism clinics.
From the police report,
Victim 6, who advised officers that she worked providing commercial sex for the organization from 2022 and currently worked for Defendants REEVES and KOMONASH at an autism center they were now running.
None of the charges relate to Medicaid fraud, yet.
Still — prosecutor and three other people in a four-way thing hatch a plan to pimp out trafficked women while double or triple-dipping the state and feds? It does in fact sound like a movie that's dying to be made.
Speaking of dying — it can't be a comedy. One of the 13 victims named in Sampson's indictment died of a drug overdose. Sex trafficking isn't funny.
And neither is government in Minnesota. Comical, yes. Funny, no.
