September 11, 2015 at 4:14 p.m.
Chagnon headed for trial in November
Sex offender charged with clipping pictures of children now facing only misdemeanors
Chagnon headed for trial in November
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.
According to the criminal complaint, as he 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 by Chagnon of a graphic and sexual nature.
Chagnon's lawyer, Raymond Edelstein, argued that the 23 felonies should be dismissed becaused 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. That statute does not apply to this fact scenario, he claimed.
Edelstein argued that "capturing a representation" and "storing in any medium data that represents a visual representation" as defined in the statute don't apply to this scenario because Chagnon did not take the photos or store them digitally.
Prosecutor Scott Ceman of the Winnebago County District Attorney's Office disagreed as did Circuit Court Judge Scott Woldt. Edelstein appealed Woldt's ruling to the Court of Appeals, which reversed Woldt's denial of the motion to dismiss the felony charges and sent the matter back to Woldt's court on July 30.
Court records show that a final pre-trial hearing on the four class C misdemeanor charges has been set for Nov. 2 in Winnebago County Circuit Court and a one-day jury trial has been scheduled for Nov. 10.
Prosecutors have not decided if Chagnon will be recharged under a different statute. A spokesperson for the Winnebago County District Attorney said the DA was out of the office for the week.
If convicted of the misdemeanors, Chagnon faces up to 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $500 on each charge.
Jamie Taylor may be reached at [email protected].
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