November 4, 2015 at 4:17 p.m.
Chagnon to enter pleas to misdemeanor charges
Repeater enhancers could net him prison time
Chagnon to enter pleas to misdemeanor charges
Albert J. Chagnon was charged in October 2014 with 23 counts of intentionally photographing a minor without consent and four counts of violating state/county institution laws. While an appeals court ordered the dismissal of the felony counts, Chagnon could still face prison time because repeater enhancers were added to all of the charges, according to Scott Ceman, Winnebago County deputy district attorney.
"If I have my way, he'll get three years in prison followed by three years of parole," Ceman said. "That's the sentence I intend to recommend."
The repeater enhancer adds up to two years in prison to the possible 30-day jail term each of the class C misdemeanors would normally carry. If Winnebago County Circuit Court Judge Scott Woldt wants to he can order the term of incarceration on each count to be served consecutively rather than concurrently, which would mean Chagnon would serve up to eight years.
According to the criminal complaint, as Chagnon was being processed for discharge from prison, officials found a notebook containing photographs of fully clothed girls that he had clipped from The Lakeland Times and other publications.
Some of the photos were accompanied by written commentary of a graphic and sexual nature.
Chagnon had been scheduled for a one-day jury trial on the four misdemeanor charges Nov. 10 after the State Court of Appeals agreed with Chagnon's lawyer, Raymond Edelstein, who argued that the 23 felonies should be dismissed because they were charged under a statute that prohibits sex offenders from "intentionally capturing a representation" of a minor without the written consent of the child's parent, legal guardian or custodian.
Edelstein successfully argued that "intentionally capturing a representation" means the sex offender, Chagnon in this case, actually took the photos.
In its written decision, the appeals court said an analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau of 2005 Assembly Bill 251, which was the source of the statute under which Chagnon was charged, states: "This bill prohibits persons who are required to register as sex offenders from intentionally photographing, filming, or videotaping any person under the age of 17 unless the parent, custodian, or guardian of the person under the age of 17 provides written consent."
In addition, Chagnon did not store the "data" of the visual representations because that would have entailed digital storage, the court noted.
The appeals panel composed of judges Paul B. Higginbotham, Paul Lundsten, and Gary Sherman, with Sherman writing the decision, agreed with Edelstein and sent the matter back to Woldt who had denied Edelstein's motion to dismiss the felony charges.
Even if Ceman wanted to fine-tune the felony charges against Chagnon, the Court of Appeals, in a different case, ruled that outside of certain specific conditions, the entire statute was unconstitutionally overly broad.
"It remains on the books, it can still be applied if the photographs the sex offender would take of children would be obscene in nature," Ceman said.
Woldt had scheduled a jury trial for this month, but on Oct. 26 a plea and sentencing hearing was scheduled instead, according to online court records.
Chagnon was originally held on a $100,000 cash bond.
The amount was lowered to $2,000 cash on Aug. 14, but Chagnon has remained in the Winnebago County Jail since his arrest Oct. 29, 2014, according to court records.
Jamie Taylor may be reached at jtaylor@ lakelandtimes.com.
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