Previously Convicted Sex Offender Indicted for Attempted Sexual Exploitation of a Minor
Gregory J. Haanstad, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, announced that on April 9, 2024, a federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment against David J. Fuchs (age: 40) of Janesville, Wisconsin.
According to a criminal complaint filed earlier in the case, Fuchs engaged in a conversation with an undercover law enforcement officer from the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office, who was posing online as a 12-year-old girl. 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. He planned to meet the girl at a travel plaza near Madison, Wisconsin, and he promised to bring her art supplies.
On March 15, 2024, Fuchs arrived at the travel plaza and was placed under arrest by U.S. Marshals. In his truck, officers located art supplies and a marijuana pipe.
Fuchs is a registered sex offender, having prior convictions in Wisconsin Circuit Court for attempted second degree sexual assault of a child and sexual assault of an intoxicated victim. Court records indicate that he had been released from state prison in approximately April 2022 and was on supervision at the time of the offenses alleged in the federal indictment. In addition to the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office undercover officer, Fuchs was also communicating with undercover officers from the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Office and the Madison Police Department, who Fuchs believed to be underage girls.
Fuchs faces charges alleging that he attempted to sexually exploit a minor and persuade that minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct, contrary to Title 18, United States Code, Section 2251(a). He faces an additional charge of committing a felony offense involving a minor as an individual required to register as a sex offender, contrary to Title 18, United States Code, Section 2260A.
If convicted of the charges, Fuchs faces a mandatory minimum of 25 years in federal prison.
This case was investigated by the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office, the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Office, and the Madison Police Department, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Alexander E. Duros.
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.
An indictment is only a charge and not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
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.
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