By Jalen Maki
Tomahawk Leader Editor
MADISON – A Merrill man this week received a federal prison sentence for producing child pornography.
Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced on Wednesday, June 29 that Jason D. Ridolfi, 42, of Merrill, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to 16 ½ years in prison for using a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography.
The term of imprisonment will be followed by 20 years of supervised release.
Ridolfi pleaded guilty to the charge on March 21.
In Nov. 2020, Ridolfi was charged in Lincoln County with two felony counts of possession of child pornography and one felony count of child sexual exploitation. The charges stemmed from an investigation that began on Nov. 19, 2020, when a Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office investigator was contacted by a Special Agent with the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ)’s Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), referencing cyber tip line reports received from the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
Based on the tip, law enforcement agents executed a search warrant at Ridolfi’s home and found more than 25,000 images of child pornography, including some Ridolfi produced, on devices belonging to Ridolfi, a release from the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin said.
After being taken into custody, Ridolfi admitted to investigators that he had taken the photos and told them that the victims were children of friends from Kenosha, according to a criminal complaint filed with the Lincoln County District Attorney’s Office.
A federal indictment returned on Aug. 11, 2021 said Ridolfi had transported a visual image of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct into a Google account in Oct. 2020.
In passing down the sentence, Judge Conley said Ridolfi “needed to address his alcoholism and mental health needs to ensure he did not offend again,” according to the release.
“Judge Conley was also concerned that the defendant’s behavior had escalated from possession of child pornography created by others, to creating it on his own,” the release stated.
With the federal indictment, Ridolfi faced a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in federal prison on each of the production charges, as well as a mandatory minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years on the transportation charge.
The Lincoln County charges against Ridolfi were dismissed on prosecutor’s motion on May 16, according to court records.
The charge against Ridolfi was the result of an investigation conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, and the Kenosha Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Altman prosecuted the case.