Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
An Oshkosh man on Wednesday became the third person in two weeks nabbed in a computer sex sting in Shawano County aimed at catching alleged sexual predators finding their victims over the Internet.
John M. Mobley, 46, is accused of arranging a sexual rendezvous with what he believed was a 15-year-old girl.
He was in fact exchanging text messages with a Shawano County sheriff’s detective posing as a 15-year-old girl on the Internet, according to the criminal complaint filed Thursday.
The sting operation was being conducted as part of the Internet Crimes Against Children Wisconsin Task Force.
The detective posted an ad on the Internet Craigslist website posing as a 15-year-old and was contacted by Mobley on Sept. 25, according to the criminal complaint.
Messages, many of them sexually graphic in nature, were exchanged for nearly two weeks before a rendezvous was arranged in the town of Belle Plaine on Wednesday.
Mobley, who told authorities he intended to bring the girl to the police or to school and wasn’t intending to have sex, was arrested without incident Wednesday afternoon when he arrived at the rendezvous.
Mobley could face a maximum 40 years in prison and $100,000 fine if convicted of using a computer to facilitate a sex crime.
He was ordered held on a $15,000 cash bond after a court appearance Friday before Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court Judge William Kussel Jr., and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Oct. 19.
Ethan R. R. Magee, 18, of rural Shawano, was arrested last week on a similar charge and is free on a $5,000 signature bond. He is due back in court for an adjourned initial appearance Oct. 19.
Lawrence A. Wafer, of Fond du Lac, was arrested last week in a similar sting operating. He faces the same charge, along with possession of child pornography. He was ordered held on a $10,000 cash bond and is scheduled for an adjourned initial appearance Oct. 12.
The arrests bring to 18 the number of people charged in Shawano County over the last three years with using a computer to facilitate a sex crime.
“These latest arrests make it clear that there is an ever present element on the web that is willing to engage in predatory type behavior when given the opportunity,” Sheriff Adam Bieber said in a news release.