Gays Mills man admits taking sexually explicit photos of 12-year-old
By Kevin Murphy, originally for the La Crosse Tribune, reprinted with permission
A Gays Mills man who admitted sending sexually explicit photos of a minor to a Snapchat user he thought was his ex-wife pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to distributing child pornography.
Ricky Olson, 57, also stipulated that he attempted to send an obscene image of himself to a minor he knows, received sexually explicit images of the same minor and possessed child pornography.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Pfluger:
Snapchat is an internet site where users can send each other photos which appear on computer or mobile devices for 10 seconds and then vanish. The site is designed not to store photos, but a user can take a “screen shot” of the displayed image, which Olson did.
Olson created a Snapchat account in February 2015 under a false name and used it to send sexually explicit pictures of a 12-year-old girl he surreptitiously photographed while she was in a bathroom. Olson mistakenly thought he was sending two of the photos to his ex-wife but they were received by a different Snapchat user.
Pfluger would not say how law enforcement learned of the sexually explicit photos. However, within days of Olson sending them, the FBI and Crawford County Sheriff’s Department searched his residence and located them on a computer and a cellphone.
Olson confessed to law enforcement that he took unlawful photos found on his computer and cellphone.
In court on Wednesday, Olson reluctantly acknowledged to District Judge Barbara Crabb that the photos involved in the investigation were not just nude photos of a minor but depicted a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Olson tried to send the girl he secretly photographed a video of himself performing a sex act, but the file was too large to upload to Snapchat, Pfluger said.
Neither Olson nor his attorney, Peter Moyers, disputed the evidence Pfluger presented in court.
Olson told Crabb, “I thought it was my ex-wife” to whom he sent the photos.
Olson agreed not to appeal a sentence of 15 years or less. He faces five to 20 years in prison at his June 15 sentencing before Crabb.
Crabb continued Olson’s detention until then.
