Wausau Man Facing Child Pornography Charges

Thursday, December 14th, 2023 -- 12:00 PM

(Mike Leischner, WSAU) A 30-year-old Wausau man is facing 11 charges related to child pornography after Google says he uploaded images of young children to their servers.

According to Mike Leischner with WSAU, court documents say Sam Shepler is accused of saving the images last spring. The tech company flagged them and turned an IP address and user name over to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, who tied the information to Shepler.

Wausau Police then searched his home and found additional images. Shepler was found guilty of sexual assault of a child back in 2012 and served time in the Marathon County Jail with Huber privileges. He was still on probation at the time of his arrest, and court records show a judge will reconsider that sentence later this week.

He appeared in court on Monday where a Judge set his bond at $10,000. He’ll return to court for a preliminary hearing on December 18th. Should he post bond he will not be allowed to have contact with minors or have access to the internet.

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