A Waukesha man whose sexual assault charge led to a partial shutdown of a dating website was convicted Tuesday of several charges, including possession of child pornography.
Daniel R. Schmidt, 21, is still scheduled for a February jury trial in Milwaukee County after he was charged with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old Muskego boy he met on Skout.com, a mobile flirting website. The case has drawn national media attention and prompted Skout’s CEO to shut down a mobile app to the website and temporarily shut down the under-18 portion of the site.
Schmidt pleaded guilty Tuesday in Waukesha County Circuit Court to two counts of possession of child pornography and had 11 counts dismissed in his plea agreement. He will be sentenced Dec. 3. He also pleaded guilty to fleeing from police. Drug dealing charges against Schmidt were also dismissed as a part of the plea agreement.
The Waukesha Police Department discovered potential child pornography and sexual text messages between Schmidt and a minor while they were investigating Schmidt for drugs following the March police chase. Police executed a search warrant on Schmidt’s home and found child pornography, according to the criminal complaint.
The complaint alleges Schmidt admitted to sharing about 360 images and four videos with other people. Investigators located more than 600 pornographic images on his computer, with the majority of the files being child pornography.
One of the children in the images has been identified as a known child victim by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the complaint states.
The drug charges allege Schmidt sold marijuana to a confidential informant working with the Waukesha Police Department on Oct. 20 and Nov. 17.
According to the criminal complaint on the sexual assault charge in Milwaukee County:
Schmidt met the teenage boy on Skout, where Schmidt posed as a 16-year-old in order to gain access to the younger age group. He then met the 13-year-old boy, who sent pictures of his genitals to Schmidt. The two eventually arranged to meet.
Schmidt picked the victim up in Muskego on June 2 and drove to Hales Corners Park, where they went to a secluded area and performed sexual acts. The two were spotted by a woman walking her dog, who called police.
Police officers confronted the two about the incident as they were leaving the secluded area of the park.
Schmidt pleaded not guilty to the sexual assault charge.
