Wisconsin repeat sex offender sentenced to 25 years

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Gregory J. Haanstad, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, announced that on September 30, 2024, Senior District Judge William C. Griesbach sentenced 41-year-old David J. Fuchs, formerly of Janesville, Wisconsin, to 25 years in prison . federal prison for attempted sexual exploitation of a child.

According to court records, Fuchs had a conversation with an undercover law enforcement officer from the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office, who posed as a 12-year-old girl online. During the conversation, Fuchs repeatedly described his desire to have sex with the child, sending multiple explicit photos of himself and requesting explicit photos from the undercover officer.

Fuchs explained to the undercover officer in explicit terms how he planned 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 a travel plaza intending to meet a 12-year-old girl. The United States Marshals Service placed him under arrest.

Court records further show that the undercover deputy from the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office also spoke to Fuchs using a different undercover identity. During this conversation, Fuchs offered to pay $100 to have sex with a 7-year-old girl.

Fuchs also spoke with undercover officers from the Madison Police Department, the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Office and the Fox Valley Metro Police Department, who posed as underage girls online.

Fuchs is a registered sex offender with prior convictions for attempted second-degree sexual assault of a child and sexual assault of an intoxicated victim.

This case was investigated by the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office, the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Office, the Fox Valley Metro Police Department and the Madison Police Department, with assistance from the Rock County Sheriff’s Office and the United States Marshals Service. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Alex 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 deploys federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children online, and to identify and to save. victims.