WASHINGTON – A Sheboygan man was charged in an indictment Tuesday for producing and possessing child pornography and engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place, the United States Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Wisconsin said Wednesday.
Jeffrey H. Ernisse, 61, is currently incarcerated for state offenses related to child exploitation at the Red Granite Correctional Institution in Wisconsin.
A grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin indicted Ernisse on:
- Two counts of producing child pornography
- Two counts of producing child pornography outside of the United States
- One count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor in the Philippines
- One count of possessing child pornography.
According to the indictment, in March 2015 and then again, on April 2015, Ernisse used a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography. Between approximately June 17, 2014, and approximately April 11, 2015, Ernisse engaged in illicit sexual conduct with a minor in the Republic of the Philippines. In December 2015, he possessed child pornography.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is investigating this case with the cooperation of the Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Police Department.
This investigation is a part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the
Department of Justice.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, click here.
