Convicted sex offender pleads not guilty to encouraging probation violation

A convicted sex offender entered not guilty pleas in Oneida County Circuit Court Thursday to encouraging a probation violation and felony bail jumping.

According to a criminal complaint filed in late June, Albert J. Chagnon, 42, assisted another convicted sex offender, Mark Curdall Burran, 48, of Laona, in acquiring a cellphone that can connect to the internet in violation of probation rules.

Chagnon

Chagnon, who returned to Rhinelander in the fall of 2022 after completing a sentence for violating prison rules during his incarceration for possession of child pornography, also has an open case from January. In that case he is accused failing to update information as required under the Sex Offender Registry Program (SORP).

A status conference in that case was held at the same as Chagnon’s arraignment on the encouraging a probation violation case. In an appearance before Oneida County circuit judge Mike Schiek, he waived his right to a preliminary hearing on the new counts and entered not guilty pleas.

According to the new complaint, Chagnon admitted he assisted Burran in purchasing a cellphone in June despite knowing that Burran’s probation rules prohibit him from possessing any device that can connect to the internet.

Officers also located a second cellphone in a mailbox when they went to interview Chagnon. According to the complaint, officers watched him place the phone in the mailbox as they approached his residence.

The charge filed in January stems from Chagnon’s alleged failure to advise the proper authorities of a new email address. According to the complaint in that case, registered sex offenders have 10 days to “update” information such as new email addresses. 

Burran

The Rhinelander Police Department issued an alert in August 2022 in advance of Chagnon’s return to the community. In reporting on the department’s press release, the River News noted that the Department of Corrections offender locator website indicated that Chagnon would remain under Department of Corrections supervision for just over a year (until Sept. 21, 2023) and will no longer have to register as a sex offender as of Jan. 8, 2025.

According to the release, Chagnon was convicted of possession of child pornography in 2003, failure to maintain sex offender registry in 2010, failure to update sex offender information in 2013, violating state/county institution laws in 2014 and battery in 2018.

The 2014 case involved Chagnon clipping hundreds of photos of young girls and keeping them in a notebook while he was an inmate at the Oshkosh Correctional Institution.

According to court records, 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 nature.

Following discovery of the notebook, Chagnon was charged with 23 felony counts of intentionally photographing a minor without consent and four counts of violating state/county institution laws. However, an appeals court later ordered the dismissal of the felony counts, agreeing with Chagnon’s defense attorney that those counts fell under the 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.

Chagnon’s attorney argued that “intentionally capturing a representation” means Chagnon would have had to have produced the photos himself using a camera or recording device. 

In its written decision, the appeals court said the Legislative Reference Bureau’s analysis 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.

Following the appeals court ruling, Chagnon entered no contest pleas to three misdemeanor counts of violating state/county institution laws (as a repeater). The fourth count was read in for sentencing purposes. 

A Winnebago County judge sentenced him to one year in prison followed by one year of extended supervision, to be served consecutively, with credit for 394 days served. Chagnon completed that sentence in the fall of 2022 and returned to Rhinelander.

If convicted of bail jumping and failure to update sex offender information, he faces a maximum of 12 years in prison. Encouraging a probation violation is a misdemeanor carrying a maximum sentence of 9 months in jail.

Chagnon, who is free on a $500 cash bond, is due back in court in October.

Meanwhile, the Oneida County district attorney’s office has filed a motion to reinstitute proceedings against Burran and enter a judgment of conviction for use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime. 

In September 2021, Burran was ordered to serve one year in jail and 10 years probation after pleading no contest to attempted child enticement, a Class D felony. A deferred entry of judgment was entered on a charge of using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime.

According to the criminal complaint in that case, Burran was arrested in a Rhinelander parking lot in May 2021 after engaging in a social media conversation with a law enforcement officer posing as a 15-year-old girl. 

According to the complaint, Burran was found with condoms and was carrying a phone that matched the one that was used to communicate with the undercover officer.

When interviewed by police, Burran claimed he was only meeting with “the girl” to convince her to change her ways and not send her life “down the tubes.” He admitted to sending “the girl” a photo of his genitals but claimed the purpose was “to keep the conversation going.”

In addition to the reinstated 2021 case, Burran has been charged with felony bail jumping and failure to maintain sex offender registry in connection with the alleged phone scheme with Chagnon.

He is in custody on a probation hold with a court appearance scheduled for Aug. 26.