Samuel Zoellner

> "I mean, I have to 'cause I can't keep doing this... or this will be my, this is just my life."
>
> - Sam's view on his criminal activity

### Aliases

* Sam
* Jack\_Loud

### Occupation

* Online seller of workout supplements
* Prison inmate

## Physical description

### Eye color

* Green

**Samuel Dennis "Sam" Zoellner** is a predator who was caught in the **Polk County, Florida** sting on *Takedown with Chris Hansen*. Sam had previously been convicted for having sex with a fifteen-year-old girl when he was eighteen, and is also known for his large ears and blunt honesty during his interview.

## Prior to the sting

Roughly eight years prior to the sting, Sam, an eighteen-year-old senior in high school native to the state of Michigan, dated a fifteen-year-old freshman girl that he ended up having sexual intercourse with. When the two of them broke up, the girl, feeling violated, went to the police. Sam was subsequently arrested, being charged and convicted of Criminal Sexual Conduct with a Person Aged 13-15, a third-degree felony. He was sentenced to three years of probation and sex offender registration, although after two years, he violated the conditions of his probation when he was caught by online detectives using a dating app, which was something he was restricted from doing. Following this, he was sentenced to serve eighteen months in Jackson State Prison. Although Sam wasn't physically harmed in prison, other men who knew what he had done would regularly threaten and harrass him on the grounds he had committed a sex crime. After being released from prison, Sam relocated to St. Petersburg, Florida in September 2022 for business reasons, being ordered to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

## Chat

On Feburary 6th, 2023, Sam, now twenty-six and using the screen name "Jack\_Loud", initiated contact with a Polk County Sheriff's decoy posing as a fifteen-year-old girl. The chat started innocent enough, with Sam asking the girl if she liked to ride horses, but acknowledging her mother probably wouldn't want them hanging out. He started asking personal questions despite acknowledging the fact that the decoy was young, such as if she ever went swimming in a bikini and if she was a virgin. Because Sam found the decoy attractive, he expressed how annoying it was she was underage, but this did not stop him delving into graphic topics. He said he wanted to make the decoy "horny" and "train [her] to be good at sex." When the decoy expressed fear at the prospect of getting pregnant, Sam said he had condoms, although he followed this up by claiming he would just eat the girl out, suck on her breasts and teach her how to give men oral sex. He then said he wanted to teach her about BDSM and asked her, "Is it bad I want to fuck you until you say I own you?" He then made it clear he wanted to take her virginity.

Sam once again said he would bring condoms and acknowledged he could wind up in prison, with his sex offender's radar apparently making him feel as though the conversation could be a set up for a sting. Although not shown in his *Takedown* episode, Sam apparently changed his mind about having a sexual encounter with the decoy, offering to take her to a public place like McDonald's so they could just hang out and get to know each other.

## Arrest

On his way to the sting house, Sam called the decoy and spoke to her on the phone as he was driving. As the decoy lured Sam using the flashlight on her phone, Sam turned his car around after missing the building and promptly made his way toward's the sting house. The decoy ducked into the sting house and the police moved in, surrounding Sam's vehicle and removing him from it. Although Sam was significantly outnumbered, he still tried to resist arrest. Once he was successfully handcuffed and stood up, Sam outrageously tried to run away. Still having not learned his lesson, Sam continued to resist being arrested, with the officers continuing to aggressively yell at him to stop. Due to his actions, Sam sustained some minor bloody cuts and bruises to his face.

## Interview with Chris Hansen

While Sam was handcuffed in one of the police trailers, Chris Hansen entered to interview Sam about the situation. Sam initially told Chris he didn't want to speak to him, but Chris convinced him otherwise, telling Sam he could prevent someone else from making the same mistake. Sam took a second to think before talking to Chris, telling him that he told the decoy he changed his mind and just wanted to hang out in a public place such as McDonald's, although he admitted he thought about having sex with her at first. When asked why he changed his mind, Sam told Chris that he "didn't want to be that person," admitting that his previous trouble in Michigan was what made him reconsider. Sam initially refused to tell Chris why he was in trouble, but, when asked to put it into context, Sam told Chris the exact circumstances arrounded his arrest and conviction, including his probation violation and subsequent jail sentence. Sam claimed he was doing "really good" before the sting, talking to people online due to "loneliness." Sam revealed what he did for a living before asking Chris what he did for a living. Apparently knowing who Chris was despite not initially recognising him, Sam told Chris he understood what was going on.

When Chris explained the nature of the investigation to send a cautionary message to other predators and the children of potential victims, Sam did his best to help Chris by explaining what was going through his mind. He described how it was difficult for him to not be selfish, admitting he had been selfish that evening and was only thinking about himself, not the potential victim. When pressed about the sexual language in his chat and whether or not he had condoms, Sam admitted it was initially on his mind, but also dismissed the condoms in his wallet by claiming he always carried them. When questioned about why he drove so far, Sam dismissed this by claiming that since where he lived was typically half an hour to an hour away from everything else the journey meant nothing to him. Sam told Chris that his job allowed him to have a pretty good living. He admitted that, being a registered sex offender, it was "stupid" for him to try and meet up with a minor. He tried to deny being attracted to children by claiming that age wasn't the attraction, attributing his desperation more so to the fact that, after four bad dates in a row with four other women, it was something finally being attracted to him that caused him to make the decision to chat to and meet up with a fifteen-year-old girl, but he denied trying to justify his behaviour, admitting that nothing he says could possibly make him look like a good person. Chris tried to refute this by acknowledging that there were so many different apps people can use to hook up and date, which led to a humorous exchange where Sam sarcastically asked Chris when the last time he went on a date was, telling Chris that dating in the age of technology is not all it was cracked up to be.

Although Sam once again denied wanting to have sex with the girl, Sam acknowldged he was in the wrong and there was no justification for a sex offender meeting up with a fifteen-year-old girl. Although he admitted he belonged in prison, Sam made it clear he wasn't excited to go back, with Chris and Sam acknowledging that Sam could be facing a very stiff sentence as a reoffender, with one of the detectives apparnetly telling Sam he faced five years in prison. Sam's message for other online sex predators was that if they met someone underage online they should stop talking to and block them, and if they have poor impulse control, they should just delete the app. Sam then admitted he had therapy, but he also acknowledged that the therapy didn't work well since he was arrested and sitting in a police trailer.

Sam apologised for what he did and acknowledged his family would not be happy. Before Chris could officially end the interview and leave, however, Sam, praising Chris for his predator investigation work, showed genuine interest and surprise that there was no consent form he had to sign to be on television, given that he had committed a felony. Sam once again told other men like him to get help and therapy, even though he personally felt like it didn't work. When asked what would prevent him from offending a third time, Sam said he needed to have more self control and more want to succeed in life, avoiding having sex with people he shouldn't have sex with, otherwise he would just spend the rest of his life making the same mistake and getting busted for it. Sam then claimed that the only other underage girl he had sex with was the one in Michigan. When asked if he felt he was treated fairly, Sam admitted his lawyer helped him out a lot, although he felt guilty at having affected the girl's life in a negative way, and he deserved to be prosecuted. Although Sam admitted he didn't think it was wrong at the time due to it being in a small town where it happened quite commonly, he thought it was wrong in retrospect, although he attributed what he did to his young age and selfishness. He then admitted to his probation violation. Sam once again denied possessing child pornography or previously attempting to meet a minor online, but he admitted that he would also find it hard to believe if he was in Chris' position. When asked one last time, Sam professed he would not reoffend and apologised for actions.

## Aftermath

Sam was checked out by EMTs who found no serious injuries. He was charged with seven felonies: three counts of Transmitting Harmful Material to a Minor, one count of Travelling to Meet a Minor to Commit an Unlawful Sexual Offence, one count of Attempted Lewd Battery on a Child, one count of Unlawful Use of a Two-Way Communication Device, and one count of Resisting Officers. After posting bail, Sam was released from the Polk County jail in Bartow, and his sex offender registry page listed his address as transient, meaning he was likely evicted from his home following the sting and was homeless or couch surfing with friends/family.

On August 8th, 2023, Sam was convicted of five felony charges; Travelling to Meet a Minor to Commit an Unlawful Sexual Offence, Lewd of Lascivious Molestation of a Victim 12-15 Years Old and Offender is Under 18 (most likely an error considering Sam was twenty-seven at the time of conviction), and three counts of Transmitting Harmful Material to a Minor. He has been designated a Sexual Predator by the state of Florida and is scheduled to be released on January 9th, 2033.

## Trivia

* Although it isn't mentioned in the *Takedown* episode, Sam most likely sent pictures of either his own genitals or other pornographic images, as he was charged with three separate counts of Transmitting Harmful Material to a Minor.
* Sam's RSO page: http://redirect.viglink.com/?key=71fe2139a887ad501313cd8cce3053c5&subId=6481857&u=https%3A//offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/sops/flyer.jsf%3FpersonId%3D121539%26x%3D548afc30-970a-4584-a3d3-ee519064f035

## Gallery

Sam's Polk County mugshotSam's Michigan RSO mugshot