Two men, including one identified as a basketball coach, were arrested in Shawano County Friday after allegedly arranging to meet with children for sexual encounters, the Shawano County Sheriff’s Department said.
In one of the cases, a concerned parent alerted sheriff’s detectives Thursday to some disturbing text messages received by her 13-year-old son.
The boy’s mother reported that her son had attended a local basketball camp on Tuesday and, after garnering some unusual attention from one of the coaches, began receiving text messages that were at first supportive of the young man’s athletic talent, but gradually seemed suggestive.
Sheriff’s detectives subsequently took over the electronic communications with the full support of the concerned family, the sheriff’s department said.
As the conversations between the suspect and detectives continued, they grew beyond suggestive and into the realm of being sexually explicit, with the suspect coordinating a personal encounter for Friday evening.
Detectives agreed to the meeting and at about 8 p.m. a 23-year-old Portland, Oregon man was arrested on charges of using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime and child enticement.
He is currently being held in the Shawano County Jail. The incident remains under investigation.
At the same time authorities were involved in that investigation, detectives were also communicating with a 27-year-old Shawano man, the sheriff’s department said.
The suspect allegedly had been engaged in sexually explicit communications over the course of several days with an individual he believed was a 15-year-old girl.
The man arranged to meet with the supposed 15-year-old and was taken into custody when he arrived for the rendezvous at about 9:20 p.m. He is facing the same potential charges as the other man.
It is the Leader’s policy not to publish the names of individuals arrested until formal charges have been filed.
The arrests bring to six the number of suspects taken into custody over the past three weeks as part of the sheriff’s department’s ongoing efforts to identify individuals using the Internet to set up sexual encounters with juveniles.
Sheriff Adam Bieber said the first arrest Friday was unique in that the initial contact was made between an adult and an actual 13-year-old child.
The other cases involved detectives posing as a child.
Bieber said the incident demonstrates the necessity of such preventative operations.
“In this case, a vigilant mother identified that a provocative conversation was being held with her son and took the actions necessary to prevent both immediate and perhaps future victimization,” Bieber said.
No further information about the incidents was being released Friday.