MILWAUKEE — A 24-year-old Milwaukee man is facing charges after prosecutors say he threatened a 14-year-old girl with sharing her naked photos online if she did not have sex with him.
The suspect also allegedly told the girl he would give her drugs and money if she shared photos of herself with him. Police later discovered the 14-year-old's grandfather chasing the suspect down the road, according to a criminal complaint obtained by TMJ4 News on Thursday.
Benjamin M. Oswald was charged with using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, exposing genitals/pubic area/intimate parts to a child and threatening to communicate derogatory info. If found guilty on all charges, he could face a max prison sentence of more than 40 years.
"If you look at the allegations in the complaint, it's one thing that he did it. But it's the intimidation factor that was utilized in saying, hey I want this," said Circuit Court Commissioner David Herring.
Oswald attended his initial appearance on Thursday. In court, Oswald told his attorney he is a former employee of UW-Milwaukee after the state said he still worked there.
UW-Milwaukee responded to TMJ4's request for comment, saying in an email that Oswald "began employment on January 5, 2022, but was terminated, effective today. As an administrative employee, Oswald was not responsible for the care of children and his workspace was in the administrative wing, separate from the classroom spaces."
According to the criminal complaint, a 14-year-old girl identified as Victim A, told police that on Jan. 23, an unknown person added her as a friend on Snapchat, and she accepted.
Over the course of their messages, the other person claimed to the 14-year-old that he had photos of her naked. The person threatened if she didn't meet him at Roosevelt Park, that they would share the naked photos on the internet.
The 14-year-old told police she suspected the other person knew where she lived. The officer recommended she stop all communication with the other person.
Later on Jan. 24, an officer was driving in the area when she spotted two cars flying by. He and other police officers were able to pull the drivers over. The speeding driver turned out to be the defendant, Benjamin M. Oswald, while the driver of the vehicle chasing him was the 14-year-old's grandfather.
During a second interview with police, the 14-year-old said that the suspect named 'Tanner' told her he would give her drugs and money in exchange for naked pictures of herself.
The 14-year-old said she decided, with her friends, to share a naked photo of herself with 'Tanner.' She says she never received drugs or money in exchange for the photo she shared. 'Tanner' claimed he was 18 years old, and she told him she was 14 years old.
'Tanner' kept asking her to meet up and for her to have sex with him, and she decided to stop responding because she was getting 'creeped out' by him. The criminal complaint alleges the suspect made a new Snapchat account and started messaging the victim that way. He threatened to share the photos if she blocked the new account.
The victim says the suspect proved he had naked photos of her by sending the photos to the victim's friend. "I told him clearly that I was uncomfortable and that what he was doing made me want to kill myself. He didn't care, so he told me he would be at [a local park].. and if I didn't meet with him I would regret it," she told police, according to the criminal complaint.
That's when the victim contacted the police and admitted she had shared photos with the suspect.
