Highland Park Man Indicted for Attempting to Entice a Minor

Update 1/9/12: The Tribune has more information the Highland Park resident indicted last week for attempting to entice a minor into underage sex.

Paul Gary Rothschild, 40, had been chatting online and by phone with a girl, according to police transcripts the Tribune obtained. 

 From the Tribune:

Milwaukee police transcripts include more than a year of telephone and online conversations between Rothschild and Det. Doreen DuCharme, of the Milwaukee Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Bureau’s High Technology Unit, who posed as a 14-year-old girl named “Anna.”

DuCharme began instant messaging with Rothschild after he sent her a message in a chat room under the name “stonehenge444.” Rothschild immediately asked DuCharme–posing as Anna–her age, to which she responded, “hi I’m 14,” according to court records.

Rothschild then asked if “Anna” had a picture of herself “to make sure you are a cutie.” She sent him a photograph of a Milwaukee police aide. DuCharme then asked Rothschild to send his photo, but he responded, “not right now, wife is close by.”

Read more here.

Earlier:

A Highland Park man was indicted Thursday for attempting to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity, according to a release issued by by the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

Paul Gary Rothschild, 40, was arrested Dec. 7, 2011, when he arrived at a prearranged meeting in Milwaukee, allegedly to engage in sexual activity with an individual he believed to be a 15-year-old girl. According to the release, Rothschild had been texting back and forth with this 15-year-old girl for over a year.

But according to Public Information Officer Dean Puschnig, the person Rothschild had actually been communicating with was an undercover Milwaukee Police Department detective.

"They were texting back and forth," Puschnig said. "It was always an undercover detective."

The federal grand jury indictment charged Rothschild with attempted enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity and traveling in interstate commerce for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor. A conviction for either offense carries a fine of up to $250,000 and a minimum of five years to a life term of supervised release.

"Those involved in enticement of children of any kind… will be identified promptly, investigated thoroughly and prosecuted effectively in this and all other federal districts," said U.S. Attorney James L. Santelle.

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