A 22-year-old Waukesha man was charged last week with several sex offenses, allegedly coercing a 14-year-old Maryland girl into sending him nude photos which he is accused of distributing.
Ryan Baltz was charged on Wednesday, Oct. 23 in Waukesha County Circuit Court with two counts of child sexploitation and one count of child pornography possession.
Baltz could face altogether up to 105 years in prison and $300,000 in fines if convicted.
According to the criminal complaint, detectives with the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department were contacted on Aug. 6 by Maryland law enforcement officers about the suspected child pornography.
Waukesha City detectives were told in the complaint that Baltz had contacted a 14-year-old girl through the website MeetMe.com on April 22. According to the complaint, Baltz spoke to the girl by phone and told her that if she did not send him nude photos he would post her private information on the social media website.
The girl sent nude photos of herself to Baltz, but he continued to threaten her and she eventually agreed to engage in sexual acts on Skype with Baltz, the complaint states.
Baltz allegedly sent the photos to the girl’s friends after he learned she had a boyfriend, the complaint states.
Waukesha County Sheriff’s deputies executed a search warrant on Baltz’s home on Sept. 26 and recovered the images, the complaint states.
Baltz’s cellphone was searched and several text messages found seemed to indicate that he had threatened other girls asking for nude photos, according to the complaint.
Baltz said it was “possible” he sent the nude photos of the girl to her friends because he was upset that she was in a relationship.
At an Oct. 23 initial appearance, Baltz was released on a $5,000 cash bond on the condition that he have no unsupervised contact with any minor females who were not relatives. He was also told he could not have any device that had access to the Internet.
Baltz is expected to appear at a preliminary hearing on Dec. 5.