Former Boyceville man charged with 13 felonies for child assault faces 16 additional charges for child pornography

By LeAnn R. Ralph

MENOMONIE  —  A 39-year-old former Boyceville resident facing 13 felony charges related to the sexual assault of two young boys and the sexual exploitation of a young girl has been arrested on child pornography charges.

Ted Lopez appeared in Dunn County Circuit Court April 5 for a bail hearing on the additional charges related to child pornography.

Judge Rod Smeltzer set a cash bail of $5,000 in addition to the $50,000 cash bail set on the previous charges related to the sexual assault of two young boys and the child exploitation.

On August 30, 2016, while executing a search warrant at Lopez’s home in Menomonie, a computer was seized, said Andrea Nodolf, Dunn County District Attorney.

In addition to a number of documents that identified Lopez as the owner of the computer, the hard-drive also contained 3,000 images of child pornography, she said.

Possession of child pornography is a Class D felony that carries a penalty of three years in prison for each count, Nodolf said.

Among the 3,000 images, over 50 of the images were positively identified as being children, she said.

$500,000

In one of the previous cases, a cash bail of $100,000 was requested by the district attorney’s office, but the bail was reduced to $50,000 cash, Nodolf said.

Because of the severity and number of the charges in three separate cases, Nodolf requested a cash bail of $500,000 during the April 5 hearing, along with the condition that Lopez not have any contact with juveniles under the age of 18 and also with the condition Lopez was not to possess any electronics with which he could obtain additional pornography, such as a computer, an iPhone or iPad, Nodolf said.

Attorney Christopher R. Bub, who represented Lopez during the bail hearing, said he would have no objection to Lopez being ordered not to have any contact with juveniles and no contact with the Internet.

Bub did object, however, to the $500,000 cash bail.

Lopez has already posted $50,000 cash for bail and has made all his court appearances so far, Bub said.

The computer was seized August 30, which was before Lopez was charged in connection with sexually assaulting young boys and the child exploitation, so the computer with child pornography pre-dates the previous charges, he noted.

Lopez is employed at Menards and is on probation for a previous conviction on drug charges. He has lived in this area for 13 years, has family here and has taken some college classes, Bub said.

The defendant has a prior track record of making court appearances, so Bub said he was asking for a $100 cash bail.

Felonies

In one of three cases in Dunn County, Lopez faces seven felony charges: repeated sexual assault of the same child (at least three violations of first degree sexual assault); causing mental harm to a child; child sexual exploitation; causing a child less than 13 to view or listen to sexual activity; child enticement; exposing a child to harmful material; and possession of child pornography.

In another Dunn County case, Lopez is charged with one count of the repeated sexual assault of the same child (with at least three violations of first degree sexual assault) for which he posted a $10,000 cash bail July 8.

According to the criminal complaint in the second of the two cases involving young boys, between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2014, Lopez allegedly committed repeated sexual assault involving the same child, Victim #2, in the Village of Boyceville.

Judge Smeltzer set an additional cash bail of $5,000 in the child pornography case and ordered Lopez to have no contact with minors under the age of 18.

In addition, Judge Smeltzer ordered that Lopez not have possession or access to electronic devices, such as smart-phones, iPads and computers.

An initial hearing for the child pornography case is scheduled in Dunn County Circuit Court May 2.

Prelim

Lopez waived the preliminary hearing in the child exploitation case during a court hearing the day before he appeared at the bail hearing for possessing child pornography.

Judge Smeltzer found probable cause and ordered Lopez to stand trial based on the criminal complaint in the case for which Lopez is charged with two felony counts of child sexual exploitation and exposing a child to harmful material.

Nodolf asked that the conditions of the $50,000 cash bail Lopez posted January 10 be amended to allow no contact with juveniles rather than supervised contact with juveniles.

Lopez’s attorney, Charles Huff, objected to changing the condition of the cash bail because it would prevent Lopez from seeing his daughter.

Lopez’s daughter is doing well in school, and Lopez and his daughter live with his parents, Huff said, noting that he had no objection to no contact with juveniles other than Lopez’s daughter.

Judge Smeltzer said he was ordering no contact at all with juveniles in the interests of protecting the alleged victims and any potential victims.

Lopez is scheduled to be arraigned on the child exploitation case May 22.

Bail

A cash bail of $100,000 on the case involving seven felonies was set August 31.

Judge Smeltzer reduced the bail to $50,000 during a preliminary hearing October 13.

Lopez remained in custody until he posted the $50,000 cash bail in January.

During a February 1 court hearing, Dunn County Assistant District Attorney Holly Wood-Webster requested than an additional cash bail of $10,000 be set for the newly-filed felony counts of child sexual exploitation and exposing a child to harmful materials.

Judge Smeltzer ordered that the $50,000 cash bail already posted should also apply to the second set of charges.

Exploitation

In the sexual exploitation case, Lopez is accused of lifting up the shirt of a young girl and taking pictures of her chest, according to the criminal complaint.

At the time of the incident, the girl was eight years old.

The alleged victim told investigators that Lopez also had tried to persuade her and her sister, who is few years older and who Lopez described as “hot,” to get into a car with him so he could give them a ride home, according to the complaint.

The alleged victim also told investigators that e-mailed pictures of Lopez’s penis had been on a tablet computer she had seen.

The alleged incidents with the young girl also occurred in the Village of Boyceville.

OWI

In 2014, Lopez was charged with two felony counts of possessing marijuana and bail jumping and two second offense misdemeanor counts of  Operating While Intoxicated and operating with a restricted, controlled substance.

Judge Smeltzer dismissed three of the charges on a motion from the prosecutor and found Lopez guilty on the OWI charge.

Lopez was sentenced to ten days in jail and also had his driver’s license revoked for 12 months and was ordered to install an ignition interlock device for 12 months.