By Kim McDarison
Fort Atkinson resident Donald L. Reynolds has been charged with 12 counts of possession of child pornography.
According to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday, March 8, by the Fort Atkinson Police Department with the Jefferson County District Attorney’s office, charges against Reynolds stem from evidence collected in June of 2021.
Reynolds also faces charges of attempted first-degree child sexual assault — sexual contact with a person under the age of 13. The single Class B felony count was filed in June of 2021.
Reynolds, 37, is the husband of School District of Fort Atkinson Board of Education member Amy Reynolds.
Possession of child pornography
According to the complaint filed Tuesday — which includes a description of each of 12 videos found on a phone allegedly owned by Reynolds and seized by police on June 23, 2021 — it is alleged that Reynolds did “knowingly possess a recording of a child engaging in sexually explicit conduct, and reasonably should have known that the child was under the age of 18.”
If convicted of the Class D felonies, Reynolds could face fines of not more than $100,000, 25 years in prison, or both, according to the complaint.
Additionally, the complaint stated, the defendant, who was at least 18 years of age at the time of the alleged commission of the crime, shall, if convicted, receive a surcharge imposed by the court of $500 for each image or each copy of an image associated with the crime.
The document reads: “The court shall determine the number of images or copies of images associated with the crime by preponderance of the evidence and without a jury.”
The complaint further noted, that upon conviction, the court shall impose a bifurcated sentence including a term of initial confinement for at least three years.
Disclosed under the heading of “facts,” the document states that on June 23, 2021, Reynolds was arrested by detectives from the Fort Atkinson Police Department and was charged with attempted first-degree sexual assault of a child.
At the time of his arrest, the document notes, Reynolds had two cell phones in his possession. Both phones were seized by law enforcement.
According to the document, prior to his arrest, Reynolds was asked if he watched pornography to which he initially replied that he did not, but later admitted he did.
Reynolds said he watched pornography on his phone, the complaint stated.
After obtaining a search warrant for the contents of the phones, law enforcement transported the phones to the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, the complaint noted, where they were analyzed.
According to the complaint, the analysis found several picture files of “possible child pornography” within a Google cache location and a video file within a “trash” folder on one of the phones and “numerous picture and video files of possible child pornography within several different file system locations,” on the second phone.
On the second phone, 14 video files of possible child pornography were found.
Fort Atkinson Police Detective Lisa Hefty reviewed the files tagged in the analysis and found 12 of the videos were “recordings of children who appear to be under the age of 16 involved in sexually explicit conduct.”
The other two files were determined by Hefty to depict sexual activity, but the detective could not determine the ages of the individuals involved, the complaint stated.
According to the complaint, videos, labeled nos. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, appeared to show images of a male and female engaged in various types of sexual conduct including sexual intercourse. The male in the video, the complaint stated, “appears to be an adult,” while the female “appears to be approximately 10 or 11 years old.”
In Video No. 4, a female “who appears to be 11 or 12,” the complaint states, exposes her chest and vaginal area to the camera.
In Video No. 10, a female, “who appears to be approximately 13,” according to the complaint, exposes her chest and vaginal area to the camera and touches the areas
In Video No. 13, the complaint describes what appears to be an adult female and a naked prepubescent female in a bathtub. The adult exposes her anus and vaginal area to the child.
In Video No. 14, a male who appears to be approximately 13, is shown wrestling with a female subject in an office. The female exposes her breasts and the male child “proceeded to grope the female’s breasts,” the complaint reports.
According to the complaint, Video No. 11 shows an underage female engaged in fellatio, and Video No. 12 depicts an underage female and adult male engaged in “various types of sexual activity.”
Attempted sexual assault charges filed
A separate criminal complaint describes alleged behaviors leading to charges brought against Reynolds by the Fort Atkinson Police Department and filed with the Jefferson County District Attorney’s office on June 25, 2021.
A single count of attempted first-degree child sexual assault—sexual contact with a child under age 13, a Class B felony, was filed following alleged activity which, according to the complaint, took place “on or between June 14, 2021, and June 16, 2021.”
The complaint alleges that Reynolds, during that timeframe, “attempted to have sexual contact with a person who has not attained the age of thirteen.”
If convicted, the complaint noted, Reynolds could face imprisonment not to exceed 30 years.
Disclosed under the heading of “facts,” the document states that on June 17, 2021, “Officer Boeve” received information about the possible sexual assault of a child under the age of 13.
A witness reported to the officer his concerns after having discussions with a child identified in the complaint as “victim 1.”
The witness told police that he picked up victim 1 on June 15 from the Reynolds home and, upon asking her questions, learned that she did not sleep well because, she told the witness, “he (Reynolds) kept tapping his fingers on her leg and on her private area.”
On June 17, according to the complaint, the witness became more concerned after victim 1 told him not to “tell what she said to him because it is a secret.”
Also noted in the complaint, the witness told law enforcement that he thought Reynolds may have been employed with the Jefferson County Human Services department.
The witness was advised by law enforcement that contact would be made with Jefferson County Human Services,” the complaint stated.
On June 23, 2021, Fort Atkinson Police Detective Lisa Hefty observed a forensic interview with victim 1.
During the interview, victim 1 told the interviewer that Reynolds “forced her to lay down and do some ‘stuff’ with ‘this’ and she pointed to her vaginal area,” according to the complaint.
The victim said the activity happened “mostly” when she was trying to nap.
During the interview, victim 1 offered other examples of when the two were “playing,” noting that it was like “her part and his part were kissing each other,” further describing the advances by saying, “it felt weird and looked disgusting.”
The victim recalled similar events happening in a camper.
It was later determined that the camper was located in a campground in Juneau County.
According to the complaint, Fort Atkinson Detective Dan Hefty made contact with the Necedah Police Department in Juneau County and reported the campground incident.
Mutual aid between the two departments was provided. Hefty was further advised by the Jefferson County Human Services Department, the complaint stated, that assistance had been requested from the Walworth County Human Services Department, “due to Donald’s prior employment with the Jefferson County department.”
Detective Hefty was advised that a protection plan would be put in place concerning any minor children living in the residence, the complaint continued.
On June 23, Detectives Lisa and Dan Hefty made contact with Reynolds at a location described in the document as “his office.” During the interview that followed, according to the complaint, Reynolds said that the only time he slept with victim 1 was when a child in the household was sick.
According to the complaint, Reynolds told detectives that “the only thing he did was move her a couple of times because she was sprawling out hitting him.”
During the interview, the complaint describes conversations between Reynolds and the detectives in which Reynolds expressed “shock” that victim 1 would describe sexual behavior.
Detectives asked Reynolds if he watches pornography.
According to the complaint, Reynolds said no. “He then said maybe, people have.”
The detectives asked again, and, the complaint notes, he said yes.
During the interview, the complaint noted, “they asked him if he used his phone or work computer or a laptop. He denied using his work computer. He admitted to using his phone.”
After the interview, detectives took Reynolds into custody.
Reynolds in court
The case against Reynolds regarding the single count of attempted first-degree child sexual assault — sexual contact with a person under the age of 13, was filed in the Jefferson County Circuit Court on June 25, 2021.
According to information provided through the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access website, during an initial appearance on that date, Reynolds, who appeared via video connection from the Jefferson County Jail, was represented by Attorney Nathan Otis.
During the hearing, Reynolds was released from custody on a cash bond of $500 and with the conditions that he have no direct or indirect contact with victim 1, no discussions of the facts of the case with an individual identified as “Witness 2” and no unsupervised contact with any minors.
A preliminary hearing was set for Aug. 10.
On Aug. 10, Reynolds and his attorney appeared in court where they heard sworn testimony given by Detective Lisa Hefty. Both Reynolds’ attorney and a representative from the District Attorney’s office examined the witness.
Probably cause was found by the court that Reynolds committed a felony and he was bound over for trial.
A pretrial conference was set for Sept. 1 and a status conference was set for Oct. 12.
On Oct. 12, Reynolds and his attorney appeared in court and the defense asked the court to prepare the case for trial.
A motion hearing was scheduled for Feb. 18, a status conference was scheduled for March 8, and the court prepared for a four-day trial, scheduled to begin on April 14.
On Feb. 18, Reynolds and his attorney appeared in court with Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Shock appearing for the state.
Attorney Otis made the court aware that he would likely have co-council at the trial.
On March 8 a second case was filed against Reynolds with the Jefferson County Circuit Court for 12 counts of Felony D possession of child pornography.
Back in custody, Reynolds appeared at an initial hearing for the second case filed against him via video conference from the Jefferson County Jail.
The court required a $100,000 signature bond to release him from custody.
A preliminary hearing and status conference are scheduled for April 5.
File photo/Kim McDarison.
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