October 31, 2014 at 6:19 p.m.
Officials meet with concerned citizens about sex offender
Officials meet with concerned citizens about sex offender
Chagnon, formerly of Rhinelander, is alleged to have collected the photos in a booklet while an inmate at the Oshkosh Correctional Institution. Police and the state Department of Corrections have said Chagnon removed the photos from The Lakeland Times, to which he subscribed while in prison, and other publications. Chagnon canceled his subscription to The Times in October.
Based on those allegations, Chagnon was charged Wednesday with 23 felony counts of violating a state law prohibiting registered sex offenders from storing photographs of a minor without the written consent of the minor's parent, legal custodian or guardian. He also faces four misdemeanor counts of violating prison policies.
Prosecutors are seeking enhanced penalties on all of the charges because Chagnon is a repeat offender.
If convicted on all counts with the enhanced penalties, Chagnon could be sentenced to a maximum of nearly 181 years in prison and a $232,000 fine. There is always a possibility, though, that Chagnon could cut a plea deal with a shorter prison term.
The criminal complaint details numerous other materials discovered in Chagnon's possession, including lengthy hand-written stories containing sexually explicit material and literature about pedophilia.
The charges follow a 2003 conviction against Chagnon for possession of child pornography, in which he emailed sexually explicit images of children to a co-worker. He has since been in and out of prison, and most recently served a two-year sentence in Oshkosh for violating the state's sex offender registry rules.
The officials who spoke at Wednesday's meeting included Oneida County Sheriff Grady Hartman, Lt. Terri Hook of the sheriff's office, Shellie Holmes of the Tri-County Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault and Minocqua Police Chief Dave Jaeger. Judy Lehman, Chagnon's probation agent, also attended the meeting.
The officials offered new details about the case. Lehman said Chagnon has a history of collecting images of minors while in prison, but criminal charges were not pursued in those instances because the photos derived from store catalogs.
Chagnon had also been warned about writing sexually explicit stories involving children, which was considered prison contraband, according to the criminal complaint. The complaint did not specify when that warning occurred.
Chagnon was involved in sex offender treatment in a community rehabilitation group while on probation, according to Lehman. Citing privacy rules, she could not say whether Chagnon participated in any treatment programs when in prison. Court records show Chagnon refused treatment while in prison for at least a period of time.
Lehman also clarified why Chagnon was allowed to leave prison even though authorities were aware of the booklet before his release. According to Lehman, it was not clear at that time the booklet could be a basis for criminal charges.
"At that point we had no idea there was possibly a crime committed," Lehman said.
A DOC spokesperson has also said the prison could not hold Chagnon any longer because he had reached his mandatory release time.
On Oct. 7, Chagnon left the prison in Oshkosh and was transferred back to Rhinelander to serve probation; he was set to live at a state-operated temporary living facility on Prospect Street while under intensive DOC supervision.
The next day, on Oct. 8, Chagnon was placed in the Oneida County Jail on a probation hold because of the booklet.
In that intervening time, Chagnon did not leave the housing facility, according to Lehman. She said she knows that because he was wearing a GPS monitoring device. Chagnon did not have access to a computer during that time, she said.
Chagnon is not eligible to be committed to the state's secure treatment facility for sexually violent persons, according to Lehman, because he has not physically touched or physically harmed a child, and has not committed a sexual assault.
However, Hook, of the sheriff's office, cited growing concern about Chagnon's behavior because his writings have become increasingly sexualized.
Questions and answers
Audience members asked a wide range of questions about the status of the investigation, who Chagnon is and his prior offenses, and how parents can keep their children safe.
Hook said she did not believe Chagnon necessarily intended to target Minocqua, but rather, that he targeted certain age groups and activities. She described Chagnon as "meek" and "timid."
"He's not really social with adults," Hook said.
Still, materials found in Chagnon's cell indicate he was looking for a place to live and work in Minocqua, according to Hook.
Other audience members expressed frustration that only 23 felony charges have been filed so far, given the far larger quantity of photos Chagnon is alleged to have stored. Hook said she is actively working to identify more children, and that additional charges could be filed.
Hook and Hartman also said they believed Winnebago County officials are taking the case seriously. They cited the decision by the county's district attorney to prosecute the case, and the fact that a judge Wednesday imposed a $100,000 cash bond against Chagnon.
"That's amazing," Hook said, noting that a $10,000 bond is much more typical in such cases.
One citizen asked how parents should negotiate the desire to publicize youth achievements but at the same time protect children and their privacy. Hartman suggested parents should not allow sex offenders such as Chagnon to stifle the flow of community information.
"I want my kids in the paper. I want their names in the paper," Hartman said. "I hope you continue to ... put your kids in the media because that's cool as a community. It's good to have them recognized."
Jonathan Anderson may be reached at [email protected].
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