GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A Janesville man who allegedly had online conversations with an undercover law enforcement officer from Outagamie County, who was posing as a 12-year-old girl, pleaded not guilty in federal court Wednesday.
David Fuchs, 40, faces charges of attempting to sexually exploit a minor, and a felony sex offense by a registered sex offender.
A June 10 trial date was set at Wednesday’s hearing.
According to federal court documents, Fuchs planned to meet the girl at a travel plaza near Madison, promising to bring her art supplies. On March 15, he arrived at the travel plaza and was arrested by U.S. Marshals. Officers located art supplies and a marijuana pipe in his truck.
“During the conversation, Fuchs repeatedly described his desire to have sex with the child, sending multiple explicit photographs of himself and requesting explicit photographs from the undercover officer. Fuchs explained to the undercover officer, in explicit terms, how he intended to “teach” the young girl how to have sexual intercourse. During many of the sexually explicit conversations, Fuchs expressed his belief that the 12-year-old girl was in school.,” the complaint states.
Fuchs was also communicating online with undercover officers from the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Office and the Madison Police Department, who he believed to be underage girls.
Fuchs is a registered sex offender with prior convictions in Wisconsin for attempted second degree sexual assault of a child and sexual assault of an intoxicated victim. Authorities say he was released from state prison in April 2022 and was on supervision at the time of the offenses alleged in the federal indictment.
If convicted of both charges, Fuchs faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in federal prison.
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