$25,000 cash bond set in case involving convicted sex offender

A 40-year-old Rhinelander man convicted of sexually assaulting a child in a local park more than 20 years ago is being held in the Oneida County jail on charges of attempted second-degree sexual assault of a child and using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, both Class C felonies.

According to online court records, Kenneth Earl Czoschke appeared in Oneida County Circuit Court on Aug. 16 for what’s known as a Riverside hearing where a judge evaluates the circumstances surrounding a person’s arrest (usually through a review of police reports) as well as the legitimacy of the individual’s detention.

It was at that hearing that Judge Mike Schiek set bond at $25,000 in cash, records show.

Four days later, on Aug. 20, a complaint was filed formally charging Czoschke with the two felonies.

According to the complaint, in late June Czoschke began exchanging messages via social media with a person he believed to under 15 years of age. The individual was actually an undercover law enforcement officer.

According to the complaint, over the course of several weeks Czoschke asked explicit questions about the anatomy, sexual history and undergarment sizes of the person with whom he was exchanging messages. Eventually, he suggested a meeting and asked the individual to remind him to bring condoms and other items for a sexual encounter.

Law enforcement officers met him at the planned meeting place and he was taken into custody without incident, the complaint states.

Czoschke was placed on lifetime registration as a sex offender after pleading no contest to sexually assaulting a 13-year-old in July 2002 when he was 18 years old. The assault was interrupted by a family member of the young teen, according to the complaint.

In addition to sex offender registration, Czoschke was sentenced to six months in jail  and six years probation. A seven-year prison sentence, consisting of four confinement and three years extended supervision was imposed and stayed.

In January 2021 Czoschke was charged with a sex offender registry violation as well as prostitution-nonmarital sexual intercourse, a misdemeanor, after he admitted to agreeing to pay $50 to have a sexual encounter with a person he met over the internet.

According to the complaint in that case, Czoschke told officers he had been communicating with a female who was asking for money for sex and he agreed to met her to see if she was real. 

He brought condoms and approximately $1,700 in cash, the complaint said.

The sex offender registry violation was due to his failure to report his internet usage or identifiers as required under the terms of the Sex Offender Registry Program.

That case was resolved in July 2021 after Czoschke pled no contest to the prostitution-related charge and a 12-month deferred entry of judgment was entered on the sex offender registry violation charge. He successfully completed the terms of the deferred entry of judgment agreement in 2022 and the charge was dismissed.

An adjourned initial appearance on the new charges is set for Aug. 30. Class C felonies are punishable by up to 40 years in prison.

Heather Schaefer may be reached at [email protected].