February 24, 2022 at 11:19 a.m.
Three Lakes man sentenced to prison for possession of child porn, illicit filming of patient
Three Lakes man sentenced to prison for possession of child porn, illicit filming of patient
Evan M. Sheedy pled guilty to one count of each charge in two separate cases Friday, Feb. 18 before Portage County circuit judge Thomas Eagon.
The sentence was handed down six days shy of one year after Sheedy was originally charged with two Class I felonies - capturing an intimate representation and invade privacy (view/broadcast/ record individual's genitals).
According to the criminal complaint filed Feb. 24, 2021, Sheedy was a nurse at Ascension-St. Mary's Hospital when he placed his cellphone in his shirt pocket with the camera recording as he gave a patient a sponge bath.
Sheriff's detectives, representatives from the Wisconsin Department Of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation and the Three Lakes Police Department later served a search warrant on Sheedy's residence on Feb. 23, 2021 after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children connected to the address.
Officers were searching for child pornography but none was found, according to sheriff's captain Terri Hook. However, investigators did find a video of an adult patient who was being cared for by Sheedy at the Rhinelander hospital.
"The investigation is ongoing and if any other videos are found, the victim will be identified and notified," Hook said in the release.
According to the criminal complaint, Sheedy admitted to taking video of the adult female patient's naked body. He told investigators he filmed the woman because he was attracted to her.
On March 4, 2021, Sheedy was charged with two counts of possession of child pornography.
According to the criminal complaint filed in the second case, a forensic examination of the contents of a cellphone recovered at Sheedy's residence during the execution of the search warrant revealed 42,286 images and 6,005 videos, many depicting child pornography.
On March 26, 2021, Sheedy waived his right to a preliminary hearing in both cases, and entered not guilty pleas to all four charges. At a pretrial conference on July 30, both sides told the judge they would work on a negotiated settlement. A plea and sentencing hearing was ultimately scheduled for Feb. 18.
At that time, assistant district attorney Jillian Pfeifer and defense attorney David Gardner Casey outlined the terms of the plea agreement which included a joint sentencing recommendation.
In exchange for guilty or no contest pleas to one count of possession of child pornography and capturing a representation of nudity without consent, the other two charges would be dismissed. Because the child pornography charge carries a mandatory minimum of three years in prison, both sides asked for that period of initial confinement.
For the other felony, the recommendation was for 12 months in jail, to be served consecutively. As Eagon later noted, Sheedy would have to serve the entire four years in prison under such a sentence.
In all, Sheedy faced up to 25 years in prison in the child pornography case and up to 7 years for capturing a representation of nudity without consent.
Sheedy answered "guilty" when Eagon asked him how he wished to plead to each count.
In her sentencing argument, Pfeifer told Eagon the two crimes were "relatively unique" and "egregious in their own right." She also said letters submitted in support of the defendant describe a different person than the one who committed the crimes he pled guilty to committing.
"On his phone there were approximately 42,000 images and approximately 6,000 videos," Pfeifer said. "In those photos there were hundreds upon hundreds of cropped photos. The defendant would crop the head of an individual and put it on the body of another. It wasn't practical for law enforcement to go through all of these photos and videos taken due to the sheer volume."
Because of this, law enforcement concentrated on two images that "were clearly child pornography." Pfeifer said Casey had argued that these two images were part of a "mass download" of images Sheedy had made that unknown to him contained child pornography. Pfeifer said that while there were a couple mass downloads, she went through several dates where a smaller number of images were downloaded to the phone. She also noted that on many of these dates the images downloaded to the phone contained no adult pornography, only illicit images of children.
"I think there is a distinction between these downloads and these mass downloads," Pfeifer said. "The downloading of child pornography was intentional and it was not part of a mass download."
Pfeifer called the incident where Sheedy inappropriately filmed the female patient "incredibly concerning for a variety of reasons." As a health care worker, Sheedy violated the trust of a vulnerable person, she noted.
"For these reasons, Your Honor, the state is asking that these sentences run consecutive, because these are very separate crimes and they deserve separate times," Pfeifer insisted.
In his sentencing statement, Casey agreed that the two crimes should have separate sentences of incarceration, but argued his client immediately sought treatment for what he called an "addiction to pornography," and accepted responsibility for his actions by pleading guilty. He also cited the 11 character reference letters from family and friends as proof that Sheedy has a support network waiting for him upon release.
"I also don't want the court to be left with the impression that Mr. Sheedy is here today doing anything other than accepting responsibility for the crimes that he committed intentionally and knowingly doing the things that he did," Casey said. "He is not deflecting by saying he did something by accident. He did what he did and he has pled guilty and admitted each and every element of the crimes that he committed."
Given his chance to speak, Sheedy apologized to the victim of the video incident, who was in the courtroom. He admitted he "violated her trust when she was at a vulnerable point."
"I take full responsibility for my actions, and I'm ready to pay the consequences for my reprehensible behavior," he said.
Eagon agreed that Sheedy's actions in the original case were "a huge violation of trust," and the addition of the child pornography charge added additional gravity to the sentencing equation.
"The legislature has already spoken with regard to the child pornography case because the law does require prison," Eagon said, referring to the mandatory minimum sentence.
The judge noted that seeking treatment after his arrest was a strong factor in his favor. But, at the same time, the fact that Sheedy's "dark side, his criminal side" was able to take advantage of children from behind the respectability his nursing profession raised "concerns."
"All that said, the court does believe that the plea agreement arrived at is fair and appropriate under the circumstances of this case of an individual without a prior (criminal) record. But it is a case that requires prison," Eagon said. "The court would find that the recommendation is the very minimum amount necessary to protect the public and for the gravity of the offense."
He then went along with the joint sentencing recommendation, sentencing Sheedy to a total of 4 years initial confinement followed by 3 years extended supervision.
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at [email protected].
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