Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
Shawano County authorities have arrested 43 men in online sex sting operations over the last three years; most recently a 36-year-old Abrams man taken into custody Thursday night.
Wesley A. Gauthier was charged Friday with using a computer to facilitate a sex crime and was ordered held on a $5,000 cash bond. He is scheduled for an adjourned initial court appearance Monday.
Only 17 cases of the 43 charged out have been fully prosecuted so far, with court cases for the others still in various stages.
A review of Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court records shows that in 10 of those 17 cases, the defendants were sentenced to probation, usually with a year in jail as a condition of probation, after pleading no contest to a lesser charge of child enticement.
The other seven defendants were sentenced to prison on charges of using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime. All but one was given the mandatory minimum penalty for that offense of five years in prison. The other was sentenced to seven years.
Using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime has a maximum penalty of 40 years, split between the prison sentence and extended supervision.
Defendants who received probation pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of child enticement, which carries a maximum 25 years in prison and $100,000 fine.
Another sentencing is scheduled for Monday.
Lawrence A. Wafer, 53, of Fond du Lac, pleaded no contest last month to using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime and misdemeanor counts of possessing drug paraphernalia and bail jumping. Three counts of possession of child pornography were dismissed as part of the plea deal.
Wafer is being held on a $10,000 cash bond.
All of the 43 cases stemmed from Shawano County sheriff’s detectives posing online as underage girls, and sometimes boys, as part of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
They were contacted by the suspects, who exchanged texts and emails of a graphic nature and set up a sexual rendezvous with them, according to the criminal complaints. They were arrested when they arrived.
None of the cases so far has gone to trial, with the defendants instead opting to accept plea agreements with the state.
A jury trial had been scheduled in one case this past week, but was called off by the defense.
Two other cases are on the court docket for jury trials in October.
The seven defendants who were sentenced to prison are:
• Richard E. Denty, 37, of Shawano, sentenced in September 2014 by Judge James Habeck to five years in prison and a year and three months extended supervision. Denty was the second person arrested in a computer sex sting operation in Shawano County in September 2013. According to the criminal complaint, Denty was expecting a sexual rendezvous with a 16-year-old boy. He had a pair of handcuffs and a lubricant in his pockets when he was arrested.
• Brandon J. Voelz, 24, of Green Bay, sentenced in October 2014 by Judge William Kussel Jr., to seven years in prison and 13 years of extended supervision. Voelz had a previous conviction for first-degree sexual assault of a child, according to the criminal complaint, and had cut off his monitoring bracelet before coming to Shawano County for the expected sexual encounter.
• Chester G. Kaleta, 40, of Appleton, sentenced by Judge James Habeck in April 2015 to five years in prison and a year and three months of extended supervision.
• Orlando A. Brown, 26, of Green Bay, sentenced by Judge James Habeck in May 2015 to five years in prison and two years of extended supervision.
• Joshua L. Lemerond, 25, of Green Bay, sentenced by Judge William Kussel Jr. in October 2015 to five years in prison and six years of extended supervision.
• Christopher K. Morley, 49, of Suring, sentenced by Judge William Kussel Jr. in June to five years in prison and 12 years of extended supervision.
• John M. Mobley, 47, of Oshkosh, sentenced by Judge William Kussel Jr. in August to five years in prison and five years of extended supervision.