Adding teeth to state's child enticement laws
By WFRV-TV Channel 5
BROWN COUNTY, WI (WFRV) - A De Pere state lawmaker is working with Brown County investigators to close a loophole in the state's child enticement laws. Local 5's Kris Schuller reports he's proposing legislation aimed directly at online sex predators.
In the internet age it takes just a few taps on a keyboard to reach out to people across the world. But according to Matt Wilson it also makes it easy for adult pedophiles to solicit nude or sexually explicit photos from minors.
“It allows the pedophile to go out and solicit on multiple different devices, multiple different ways, to try and get child porn over the internet,” said Sgt. Wilson of the Brown County Sheriff’s Office.
But Wilson says while it's illegal to receive nude photos of a minor - defined as child pornography - there is no penalty for the act of soliciting a minor for these images in the first place.
“We get cases like this all the time,” Wilson said.
It's a loophole that law enforcement wants closed.
“There is no law on the books that says we can actually go after and prosecute any person trying to solicit a photo from a juvenile,” Wilson said.
“This is something where there is a clear vulnerability with Wisconsin's child enticement statutes,” said Rep. Andre Jacque (R-De Pere).
That's what Jacque thinks about the present situation. He learned of the concern in meetings with Brown County investigators. He's now circulating legislation that makes requesting sexually explicit photos from a minor a class ‘A’ misdemeanor with a penalty up to a $10,000 fine and 9 months in jail.
“This makes so much sense, especially when you are dealing with what is clearly criminal and obscene behavior and preventing that victimization of our children,” said Jacque.
“It's very frustrating right now because there is no laws on the books, we can't take these cases to the DA’s office and say we want you to prosecute these cases because there is no law there,” Wilson said.
Representative Jacque hopes the bill can come up for a vote sometime this summer.