Michael Snyder, Children's Book Author Who Calls Himself 'Mr. Mike', Arrested for Child Sex

By Simone Wilson Thu., Mar. 10 2011 at 9:45 PM

Orange County Sheriff's Department

43-year-old Michael Snyder of Orange County

Updated after the jump: Neighbors say Snyder's two children were recently adopted from China.

San Clemente children's book writer Michael Snyder is in possibly the worst situation imaginable for a children's book writer and family man: He's being accused of having sex with an underage girl for almost a year.

According to the Orange County Sheriff's Department, 43-year-old Snyder was arrested at about 7 p.m. last night, just as he was picking up his children from the local Boys and Girls Club. Sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino says the "child molestation" crimes allegedly began in May 2010 against a girl who is under 14 years old.

Snyder's website, Beetle Bug Books, shows...

... that the suspected statutory rapist actually makes visits to schools around the country, where he speaks at elementary-school assemblies and hosts "Lunch With Mr. Mike" events.

His website brags: "Mr. Mike's presentations have been seen by over 1/2 million students since 1998!" (Click here to see if he's visited your child's school.)

beetlebugbooks.com

Then there's Snyder's company, which provides services to families of disabled people through the State Department of Developmental Services, according to City News Service.

Here's his bio on Beetle Bug Books:

"Mr. Mike began writing in elementary school. He started writing poetry when he was about 13 years old. As an adult, he worked with a group of kids at an after school program. That's where he got the name 'Mr. Mike'. The students enjoyed hearing Mr. Mike's poetry and seeing his drawings. They encouraged him to write more poetry and often asked if he ever planned to write a book... that's how Lemon Drop Rain, New Pet, Over the Top and Swimming in Chocolate came to be!!!
Mr. Mike lives in a little house near the ocean in Southern California. When he's not writing and illustrating, he loves to walk on the beach, drop by his favorite chocolate shop and travel to far away places! He's currently working on a retelling of a famous fairy tale."

Snyder's alleged victim told her mother about their sexual relations on Wednesday evening. From there, "we began our investigation yesterday morning, and developed substantial probable cause to arrest him," says Amormino.

Snyder is currently being held on $100,000 bail.

Update: More from Snyder's website, which just gets creepier the more we browse:

beetlebugbooks.com

ABC7 talked to Snyder's neighbors, who shared the following disturbing details:

Authorities spent hours collecting evidence from Snyder's home in San Clemente on Thursday.
Neighbors said he and his wife adopted their teenage son and daughter from China last year.

"Like a regular dad, they take these kids everywhere," said neighbor Elisa Luna. "Every weekend, they spoil these kids. The kids are very happy."

Here's the video report:

Investigators are searching for more possible victims, so call (866) TIP-OCSD if you have any information along those lines.

Originally posted at 2:28 p.m.

[@simone_electra/swilson@laweekly.com]

Tags:

Beetle Bug Books, child molestation, Michael Snyder, Mr. Mike, Orange County, San Clemente, sheriff, underage sex

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darhorn

Where's Dexter?

PhaedraBlue

I knew I read more info on this somewhere. He's being charged with the 14 year old and for oral copulations of a child under the age of 10.

fivecentfather

Hmmm... whatever happened to "innocent until proven guilty". Seems like some people have already made up their minds about this guy. 13-14yo girls can be pretty mean and manipulative if they get crossed. Nobody knows the situation that's going on. But I do know one thing for sure, even if he is eventually exonerated in this situation, his life has gone to hell. Wouldn't be surprised if he's in the obits as a suicide in the future. Guilty or not the stigma of having been accused of something is enough to ruin your life forever. I pray you people who are so sure of the guilt of those around you never have to suffer or have one or your children suffer through this kind of finger-pointing accusation.

delia

No, sociopaths never commit suicide, they think too highly of themselves.

PhaedraBlue

I agree with you that he's screwed if he's innocent. But the other poster is fairly correct in that if he is a sociopath, he won't be committing suicide and will proclaim is innocense throughout. If you look as his website for childrens books, he does think rather highly of himself and goes into great detail about himself in is biography. One link says: I hope you choose me as your favorite author; thank you! And then goes on in great detail about himself so that children can write reports on him as their favorite author. What's puzzling to me is the news saying he is a popular children's author; he's only written I think 3 books and he's working on the fourth. His poetry is just average. And I've been in and around the elementary school system volunteering in my son's school's for several years and never hear of the guy. Oh, and in his biography he doesn't mention his wife or his two adopted children. I would think that would be part of his bio. Well, if the child is lying I hope she receives counseling for that. If she's not she's going to need a lot of professional care.

coastx

This is so typical. I worked in Inglewood where I caught a custodian stalking elementary girls and reported him to county authorities and the school administrator. The school staff and district covered this up to avoid drawing attention to the current victims parents and made him employee of the year. HAHAHA I truly hate people like this but keep myself in check to stay out of jail and keep my teaching credential. There is a reality here that people have to understand. People like this pervade education, and they are respected and protected by their unions. They are not difficult to spot, but they are notoriously surrounded by others like them, which makes it difficult if not impossible to stop them. Sick, very sick. For the uninitiated, they posture affect, which means they mask emotionally. Fake caring, phony enthusiasm, coercive (they have to have things their own way), and they have strange seemingly pout of place collections. In the case of this custodian, he collected children's art which he posted in his workroom at school. DOES ANYONE SEE THE DISCONNECT HERE? Now go check out your kids local school and start counting. HAHAHA

Rej

My mom knows him and his family verry well and I fully agree with fivecentfather about "(whatever happened to "innocent until proven guilty".)". I don't know if he's guilty or not but can you imagine how difficult this is for his family, and for him if he's innocent because everyone he once had near have showed him the door. :(

//P.S. Don't mark my spelling or grammar i'm just a 17 year old girl from sweden