Colfax man sentenced to 3 years in prison for possessing child pornography
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — A 39-year-old Colfax man charged with 11 felony counts of possessing child pornography has pleaded guilty to one count and has been sentenced to three years in prison.
Brian M. Pautz appeared in Dunn County Circuit Court before Judge James Peterson September 3 for a plea hearing and sentencing hearing.
Judge Peterson accepted Pautz’s guilty plea on one count of possessing child pornography and dismissed the remaining 10 counts on a motion from Dunn County District Attorney Andrea Nodolf.
Judge Peterson sentenced Pautz to three years in prison and three years of extended supervision.
Pautz was ordered to pay $268 in court costs, a $250 DNA surcharge and a $500 pornography surcharge.
In addition, Judge Peterson ordered Pautz to register as a sex offender, to participate in sex offender treatment, to have no Internet access and to have no contact with children unless approved by his probation agent.
Dunn County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Jake Mack received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on February 20 of this year indicating on December 22, 2018, Microsoft Online Operations flagged a photograph that appeared to be child pornography, according to the criminal complaint.
A subpoena of Charter Communications records identified the IP address used to access the image as belonging to a subscriber named Robert Pautz with an address on 870th Avenue in the Town of Tainter.
A search warrant for the address in the Town of Tainter was obtained, and on April 15, deputies executed the search warrant. A neighbor told deputies both Brian and Robert Pautz were at work.
Robert told deputies his brother was a “gamer” and would play X-Box every day and into the early morning hours on the weekends, according to the complaint.
When he was asked about the image viewed through Microsoft, Brian Pautz said, “I look at stuff.” Pautz told deputies they would find “messed up pictures” on his tablet, and when asked if the pictures would be of girls under the age of 18, Brian Pautz said, “yes,” the complaint states.
When investigators asked Brian Pautz how often he viewed pornography, he said he had been addicted to pornography since his divorce in 2010, according to the compliant.
Although his involvement with pornography started around the time of his divorce, Pautz said, the “younger stuff” had happened recently. Pautz told investigators the last time he had viewed child pornography was the night before and that he knew it was illegal, the complaint states.
The criminal complaint describes 11 pornographic photos found on a tablet computer belonging to Pautz with subjects ranging in age from four to six years old and up to 14 to 16 years old. Several of the photographs also depict adult men with children.