A man described by the prosecution as the reason for Internet sex sting operations was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in prison and another 13 years of extended supervision.
Brandon J. Voelz, 22, of Green Bay, was arrested in the town of Wescott in December 2013 after arranging to meet what he believed was a 15-year-old girl for sex.
Voelz was in fact communicating via the Internet with a Shawano County sheriff’s detective posing as a 15-year-old girl.
Voelz arrived at the meeting spot with liquor and a 12-pack of condoms in his vehicle.
The sentencing comes on the heels of a similar, regional sting operation over the weekend that resulted in 24 arrests for using a computer to facilitate a sex crime, including three in Shawano County. Regional sting operations have resulted in 83 arrests in northeast Wisconsin over the past two years.
At Voelz’ sentencing hearing in Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court on Wednesday, District Attorney Greg Parker said Voelz was the epitome of the kind of child predator authorities were trying to bring in off the streets with Internet stings.
“This is the guy they’re looking for out there,” he told the court. “This is the sex offender.”
In his statement to the court Wednesday, Voelz said he takes responsibility for his actions and hoped to get treatment to turn his life around. He also said he wasn’t seeking sex with a minor.
“I wasn’t online looking for a 15-year-old,” he said.
Judge William Kussel Jr. told Voelz he would have faced much more serious consequences if the 15-year-old girl he believed he was meeting was real.
“In some ways, you’re lucky it was a law enforcement officer,” Kussel said.
Voelz pleaded no contest in August to using a computer to facilitate a sex crime.
Under the plea deal, the state agreed to cap its sentencing recommendation at the mandatory minimum prison sentence of five years.
Parker also recommended 15 years of extended supervision. Noting a history of sex offences involving children — some as young as 6 — while Voelz was a juvenile, Parker told the court Voelz needed to be monitored for a long time.
“This man’s background is really quite scary,” Parker said.
Kussel, who took two years off Parker’s extended supervision recommendation to add a stiffer prison sentence, said he was also disturbed by Voelz’ history.
“Quite frankly, it is shocking,” he said.
Kussel said he took into account that Voelz suffered sexual abuse as a child himself that might have influenced his thinking and behavior. But he also said Voelz was clearly an intelligent man who knew right from wrong.
“We also have free will,” he said.
According to the criminal complaint, Voelz was on supervision for a previous conviction for first degree sexual assault of a child on Dec. 18 when he began communicating with the supposed 15-year-old girl.
The complaint states Voelz cut off his monitoring bracelet shortly before midnight that night. He showed up in Wescott for the intended sexual rendezvous the next day.
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