A Monroe resident faces potentially decades in prison and lifelong court supervision as a sex offender if convicted of a felony child exploitation charge in Green County Circuit Court.
The charge against Dana P. Reeve, 71, of Monroe, stemmed from local police follow-up on a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to court records. He is accused of downloading at least one image of child pornography; and starting a sex-related group site on social media, which has since been taken down, said the criminal complaint.
“Dana advised it was a group created for people to learn ‘naughty sex’,” said the complaint.
However, in the complaint the defendant told investigators that he never allowed a minor into the social media site.
“I advised Dana this type of content gets flagged by social media and is forwarded to other agencies in the form of Cybertips to be investigated,” the defendant was told by investigators. “Dana continued to advise the content he uploaded did not contain images of minors.”
A conversation allegedly taken from the defendants’ social media chat log apparently references possible earlier encounters within the group site; and previous possible victims of child pornography referred to only by their first names.
“I informed him based off of the review of his (social media) content he uploaded a picture which depicting Child Pornography,” said the complaint.
He was eventually arrested and charged on the single felony count in a complaint filed on June 22. Cash bond for Reeve also was set at $8,000 June 22 by Circuit Judge Faun M. Phillipson.
His next court date is for an adjourned initial hearing before Phillipson at 1:15 p.m. July 1.
In addition to a 40-year maximum possible prison sentence, the charge against Reeve includes a fine of up to $100,000, court records indicate.
According to online court records, Reeve has no other criminal history in Wisconsin.
The NCMEC, which routinely tips off police, is a national nonprofit that works with law enforcement agencies nationwide to combat child exploitation and abuse, and has sparked numerous area investigations into online child porn activity resulting in arrests and felony charges. The uploading and downloading of suspect child pornography, either images of videos, are flagged by investigators and tracked by a user’s computer IP address — even through apps and web sites users wrongly assume are anonymous or untraceable.