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Man in NG custody case charged with child porn
22-year-old Evansville man allegedly had pornographic images of 14-year-old girl
Keith Hartje

MONROE — An Evansville man charged in October with interfering with the custody of a New Glarus girl and has been arrested three times since for felony bail jumping faces new, related charges of child pornography and drug possession.

The latest charges against Keith Daniel Hartje, 22, allege he had pornographic images of the 14-year-old New Glarus girl on his phone.

Police discovered the photos in Hartje’s possession, along with psychedelic mushrooms and marijuana, when they apprehended him in early March outside the girl’s home, according to a criminal complaint filed last week in Green County Circuit Court.

He was also being investigated by Evansville police for soliciting nude photographs from a 17-year-old girl, according to the complaint, but no charges have yet been filed related to that investigation.

Hartje is next in court in Green County on July 9.

He was charged in October with three felony counts of interfering with child custody, stemming from an investigation into allegations that he caused the New Glarus girl to leave her parents without their consent on three occasions in August and September.

He and the girl went on road trips together to Illinois, Iowa and around Wisconsin, disappearing for days at a time, shoplifting and stealing gas along the way, according to court records. The girl has a history of sneaking out to meet him, and one of her parents had gone so far as to nail her bedroom window shut to keep her home.

One of their trips caused her to be truant from school in early October. Police eventually located her and Hartje at a cabin on Lake Nebagamon in northern Wisconsin.

Since then, Hartje has racked up three bail jumping cases in Green and Rock counties for having contact with the girl or otherwise breaking his conditions of his bond.

The court ordered an exam in November to ascertain if Hartje is competent to stand trial in the cases, all of which are still pending. In January, he was found competent to stand trial.