Former Police Chief and Sheriff Candidate Pleads Guilty to Federal Child Pornography Charges

Matthew D. Krueger, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, announced that on August 4, 2020, Alexander P. Bebris (age: 50) of Neenah, Wisconsin, entered a guilty plea to a charge of distributing child pornography.

According to court filings, in September of 2018, Facebook notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that one of its users had sent images of child pornography via its messenger system to another Facebook user account. The Wisconsin Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Taskforce launched an investigation and determined that the images were sent from an IP address in use at Bebris’s residence in Neenah. Investigators sought and obtained a search warrant for that residence.

On December 19, 2018, the search warrant was executed at Bebris’ residence. An examination of the hard drive on Bebris’ computer revealed images of pornography involving children ranging in age from approximately one to fifteen years old.

Court records also indicate that Bebris spent his career in law enforcement, most recently as Public Safety Chief in Oakwood, Ohio. In 2018, he ran unsuccessfully for the position of Outagamie County Sheriff.

Bebris faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and up to 20 years of incarceration in federal prison when he is sentenced in Green Bay’s Federal District Court on November 13, 2020.

This case was investigated by the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s ICAC Task Force, the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation, and the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel R. Humble.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006, by the U.S. Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The year 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the Department of Justice. Learn more about the history of our agency at www.Justice.gov/Celebrating150Years.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.