Deputy pleads not guilty to sextortion charges

SPENCER — The sheriff's deputy charged with sexual crimes against a minor has pleaded not guilty and court records indicate the case will continue into 2025.

Jeremy Chapman, 39, Spencer, faces charges of child sexual exploitation, child enticement, threats to communicate derogatory information and soliciting an intimate representation from a minor. He could face more than 40 years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors filed the case July 1, but there were multiple oddities about how the case was handled. Authorities announced the arrest of a Clark County deputy only after Chapman had signed the bonds for his release — and initially refused to name him. Authorities released Chapman's name several days after his arrest, a delay that likely violated state open records laws.

That wasn't the only unusual part of how the case came to light. Wisconsin operates a public online database for the state's courts. There was a significant and unexplained delay between the arrest and when Chapman's case was entered in that system.

According to the criminal complaint, a teen told investigators she had become friends with a man called "Caleb" on Snapchat. He claimed to be a college student from Wausau. Eventually the man asked for photos of her without clothes, and she sent some of herself in her underwear.

That progressed to the man blackmailing her into joining him on an online video chat and sending additional photos. Failure to do so, he said, would result in him sending the photos to her school staff. When he told her there were boys waiting in her school's locker room to assault her she went to school officials to report the man.

Investigators traced "Caleb's" IP address to Chapman. Checks of his computers uncovered evidence to back the victim's accounts.

On Monday, Chapman waived his preliminary hearing and entered a not guilty plea to the charges. Two future court appearances are scheduled. The first is a pretrial conference on Jan. 8, 2025. There is also a status hearing scheduled for Feb. 14, 2025.

The court record also echoed previous indications of plea negotiations. The court ordered an appearance at a settlement conference, with participants to report the results to the court. There was no date listed for those discussions.