32-year-old man was arrested on Thursday by Wisconsin deputies and an FBI special agent after he walked from Indiana to Wisconsin to have sex with a 14-year-old girl, according to a news release from the Justice Department.
Tommy Lee Jenkins, a former resident of Oshkosh, Wisconsin who now lives in Whitestown, Indiana, started texting with a girl named Kylee on Oct. 1, according to the release.
What Jenkins didn't know, was "Kylee" was actually a Winnebago County Sheriff's Deputy who was assigned to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Jenkins thought "Kylee" lived in Neenah, Wisconsin with her mother. The man had started demanding sexually explicit pictures from "Kylee" and kept asking her to come to live with him in Indiana, according to the release.
When "Kylee" rejected his requests for her to come live with him, Jenkins started walking from Whitestown, Indiana to Neenah, Wisconsin - a 351-mile trek.
During his walk, Jenkins kept talking to "Kylee" in a sexually explicit manner and updated her on his location throughout the journey, according to the release.
Once he reached Winnebago County on Thursday, deputies and a Special Agent with the FBI arrested Jenkins.
Jenkins is now facing a charge of using a computer to persuade, induce or entice a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity. According to the Justice Department, he could face a minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison if he's convicted.
In 2011, Winnebago County prosecutors charged Jenkins with two counts of repeated first-degree sexual assault of the same child, but those charges were later reduced to four counts of child abuse. He was sentenced in 2012 to four years of probation.
According to court documents, between July 1 and Sept. 30, 2011, a 7-year-old boy told a Neenah police investigator in 2011 that Jenkins would grab or rub his genitals and tell him they both would get into trouble if he told anyone.
An 8-year-old boy also told police Jenkins would squeeze his genitals and buttocks and tell him police would arrest the boy if he ever told anyone, according to court documents.
When an investigator interviewed him, Jenkins said nothing had happened and that both both boys were "making the whole thing up," according to court documents.
Jenkins later pleaded no contest to four reduced charges of child abuse by recklessly causing harm and was sentenced to four years of probation, according to court records. A 360-day jail sentence was stayed.
Police: Former Oshkosh man arrested in child-sex sting after walking from Indiana to Wisconsin to meet girl
Tommy Lee Jenkins, 32, formerly of Oshkosh, is accused of walking from Indiana to Wisconsin to have sex with a child. He was duped by police.
www.thenorthwestern.com
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