Accused Kidnapper of Zimmerman Girl Posed as Nanny on Facebook to Reach Family, Others May Have Been Targeted

(KNSI) – Investigators believe a man accused of abducting and sexually assaulting a Zimmerman child may have contacted other families through Facebook while posing as a childcare provider.

The Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office is urging parents to come forward if they had any contact with Joseph Andrew Bragg. The 28-year-old from International Falls is charged with kidnapping and first-degree criminal sexual conduct related to a January 21st incident in which a seven-year-old girl from Zimmerman was kidnapped and later recovered alive near the Iowa border.

According to authorities, Bragg used Facebook to contact parents, ask whether they had children, and offered to provide nanny or childcare services in the Zimmerman-Princeton area.

The sheriff’s office is asking anyone who employed Bragg as a nanny or childcare provider to contact investigators through the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension tipline at (651) 793-2465.

The mother of the abducted child told authorities that Bragg had contacted her on Facebook in December, sending a friend request that she initially accepted because she thought she knew him. After learning she didn’t know Bragg and becoming uncomfortable with his inquiries about her children and interest in childcare work, she blocked him.

The child was abducted while walking home from her bus stop on January 21st. She was safely recovered and Bragg was arrested about six hours later in Albert Lea.

___