September 21, 2020 at 10:22 a.m.
Rhinelander man sentenced in child enticement case
Rhinelander man sentenced in child enticement case
According to the criminal complaint, last spring Adam Van Roy began communicating via social media with a person he believed to be a 15-year-old female, eventually making a plan to meet in a parking lot to have sex and smoke marijuana. At one point in the conversation, Van Roy asked the "girl" to send him nude photographs of herself, according to the complaint.
However, when Van Roy arrived at the designated meeting spot on March 15, 2019, he was met by an agent with the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
The officer located a vaporizer and marijuana cartridge on Van Roy's person, according to the complaint.
On June 23, Van Roy accepted a plea agreement negotiated by his attorney David Vernon Penn and assistant district attorney Mary Sowinski.
In exchange for a guilty plea, Sowinski moved that a bail jumping charge be dismissed, along with the attempted child sexual assault charge. Van Roy would be sentenced on the attempted child enticement charge and a delayed entry of judgement would be put in place on the soliciting an intimate representation from a minor charge.
At sentencing Sept. 15, Sowinski said it was important for Van Roy to be held accountable for the more serious felony charge. She cited the message exchange in the criminal complaint as the most compelling reason for this.
"He asked for pictures, at which point she made very clear to him that she was 15 years old not 19 years old as had been stated in her social media post previously. Despite that, he immediately asked her for more pictures, including nudes," Sowinski said. "He then asked her what she liked to do in the bedroom, and that he wanted to see her without clothes. Again, after she informs him that she is 15 years old."
Penn said the "conclusions and recommendations (of the PSI report) are appropriate" and well supported by the information in the report.
He noted that his client has only one criminal conviction on his record, has been employed at the same job for 15 tears and his fiancee still wants him in her life. She said "this offense is not who Adam is," Penn said.
The authors of five character letters submitted for the judge's consideration all expressed surprise at what Van Roy had done and said they didn't see anything in his behavior to predict this of him, Penn noted.
He also noted the tests Van Roy took as part of the PSI process showed him to be a "low risk" for reoffending.
"Mr. Van Roy shows remorse for his behavior. He stated he is disappointed in himself and that he let everybody down, including himself," Penn said. "Adam explained that even though it turned out to be a law enforcement official instead of an actual 15-year-old girl, he said he feels the same amount of guilt like it was a real person. He stated that if there were an actual 15-year-old girl, it could have destroyed her life and it could have led her down a bad path of continuing to talk and meet with older men."
Given his chance to speak, Van Roy said he "wanted to apologize to my family, friends and community for my actions."
"I only hope to prove from here on out that I will be a better man, husband and citizen," Van Roy told Judge Patrick O'Melia.
The judge explained there are several factors he must weigh when coming to a sentencing decision.
"Oddly enough, the report here states you were keenly aware that what your were doing was illegal and keenly aware that police utilize this tactic in order to curb human trafficking of children," O'Melia said. "To the point (you asked) are you sure you're not an officer, and they assured you they were not. To which you commented 'that's what they always say.'"
One factor in Van Roy's favor was that neither he or Penn used an argument the judge has heard many times in similar cases which is that there was no real victim.
"You, on the other hand, in your comments to the author of the pre-sentence investigation and even a police officer that placed you under arrest was you looked beyond there wasn't a real person," O'Melia said. "You looked and said that if this had been a real person, I would have ruined my life, but more importantly, I would have ruined that person's life, that 15-year-old, recognized that would have had a tremendous impact on a person."
O'Melia also noted that in such cases, the wife or significant other of the defendant rarely sticks around, let alone attend court to support them during sentencing.
"There are some who would run for the hills," O'Melia said.
He then sentenced Van Roy to three years initial confinement followed by three years of extended supervision on the more serious count, but imposed and stayed the sentence, placing him on probation for four years.
Van Roy will also serve nine months in jail with Huber privileges, to commence within 30 days. He must also register as a sex offender for life.
Because O'Melia imposed and stayed the prison sentence, if Van Roy's probation is revoked for any reason, he would go straight to prison instead of going in front of a judge.
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at jamie @rivernewsonline.com.
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