Leader Staff
A Birnamwood man due to go to trial in July on multiple counts of possessing child pornography in Shawano County made an initial court appearance this week in Portage County, where he faces nearly 30 more counts of the same crime.
Christopher J. Ehlenfeldt, 39, faces 69 counts of possessing child porn in Shawano County and one felony count of child sexual exploitation.
He was initially charged with 10 child porn counts after Shawano County authorities arrested him in August, but the criminal complaint was amended to add more charges in September.
According to the original criminal complaint, Shawano County sheriff’s detectives scanning an Internet file sharing service known to traffic in child porn turned up an IP address in Birnamwood.
The complaint alleges that 27 child porn files were listed on the service as available for sharing from the Birnamwood IP address.
The address was eventually linked to Ehlenfeldt, who was making use of a nearby wireless network to gain Internet access, according to the criminal complaint.
A search warrant executed at Ehlenfeldt’s residence found 10 child porn video files on his computer, according to the complaint.
The videos allegedly show prepubescent children — some younger than the age of 5 — in sexually explicit acts, according to the complaint.
Ehlenfeldt was charged in Portage County with 29 counts of possessing child pornography and one count of capturing an image of nudity.
Portage County set a $50,000 cash bond for Ehlenfeldt.
He is already being held in Shawano County jail on a $30,000 cash bond.
Ehlenfeldt could face a maximum 25 years in prison and $25,000 fine on each child pornography count if convicted.
His Shawano County trial is slated to begin July 6.
He is due in Portage County for an adjourned initial appearance May 18.