Annie Pulley
RACINE — Dale Lecus Jr. of Caledonia was sentenced Friday to six years in prison after being found guilty of one count of possessing child pornography.
“I’m sorry to my victims and their families who have had to relive their past through my demented choices,” Lecus said, addressing Judge Jon Fredrickson in the courtroom. “I will continue any treatment provided to further myself becoming a positive member of the community. I’m sorry to my community and my family for letting everybody down.”
Lecus, who is 25, also will serve a period of extended supervision for an additional six years.
Seven additional child pornography charges were dismissed but read into the record.
Lecus will pay a $500 surcharge for each count, totaling $4,000, and he will be made to comply with the sex offender registry requirements for at least 15 years after his sentence.
Lecus also was sentenced to an additional year of confinement and extended supervision after pleading guilty to a felony bail jumping charge. This sentence will run concurrent to the first.
According to his defense attorneys, Lecus did not intentionally download child pornography. He downloaded adult pornography, which included images of child pornography, but reportedly admitted to viewing it and failing to delete it from his file storage.
Lecus also reportedly made advances toward a 16-year-old coworker while free on bond and participated in an online chatroom and communicated with underage individuals, although he had been prohibited from using the Internet.
“You seem to be a prosocial individual in many respects. In some of the following respects, though, you’re not,” Fredrickson said. “You willingly violated the bond ... You are currently a danger to society.”
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Flynn noted in her remarks that the term “child pornography” does not adequately represent the underlying crime.
“Pornography kind of gives it a veneer that it just doesn’t deserve,” she said. “Because what this is, is children being sexually assaulted.”
According to defense attorney Benjamin Lutgen, Lecus accepted full responsibility, cooperated with law enforcement during the investigation and participated in sex offender treatment.
Lecus originally downloaded the material when he was 15, Lutgen said. When he transferred data from an old to a new cellphone in November 2020, the content was flagged.
“He admitted that he did see those and that he should have deleted them, but he didn’t,” Lutgen said. He “thought it was adult stuff. He did see some children stuff but that’s not what excited him.”
About 115 of the 1,600 files Lecus originally downloaded reportedly contained pornographic depictions of children.
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