Leader Staff
A Birnamwood man charged with 10 felony counts of possessing child pornography was ordered held on a $30,000 cash bond after his initial appearance Friday in Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court.
Christopher J. Ehlenfeldt, 38, also faces an additional felony count of sexual exploitation of a child for allegedly distributing a child porn video.
Ehlenfeldt could face a maximum 40 years in prison and $100,000 fine if convicted on the sexual exploitation count. The other counts each carry a maximum possible penalty of 25 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.
According to the 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 last week 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 is scheduled for an adjourned initial court appearance on Aug. 11.