Grafton man involved in child porn case

Jeffrey M. Anderson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that 36-year-old Benjamin McHugh of St. Germaine, WI, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William Conley to 12 years in federal prison for distributing child pornography. This prison term is to be followed by a lifetime period of supervised release. McHugh pleaded guilty to this offense on March 9.

On September 6, 2016, FBI agents executed a search warrant in Grafton at Seth Foerster’s residence. FBI agents reviewed the digital evidence seized as part of that search warrant and found sexually explicit photos of a female under the age of 18. Foerster indicated that McHugh took the pictures and uploaded them to Foerster’s computer through a file transfer protocol. Foerster also admitted taking explicit pictures of a different juvenile and making them available to McHugh through the same file transfer protocol.

Agents then executed a search warrant at McHugh’s home and interviewed him during the process. McHugh admitted taking the pictures of the minor girl and uploading them to Foerster’s computer.

In sentencing McHugh, Judge Conley found that the defendant had been living a double life for the last 20 years, hiding his sexual interest in children from friends and family. In addition, Judge Conley noted that while McHugh expressed a need for treatment after he was arrested, it came too late for the victims in this case.