Man who sent lewd photo to agent posing as girl guilty

A 45-year-old Saukville man who propositioned an undercover agent posing as a 13-year-old girl online, then sent a lewd photo and asked the person he thought was a girl to do the same more than two years ago pleaded guilty to two felonies in Ozaukee County Circuit Court Monday.

Jason M. Link, who was also found to have pornographic images of prepubescent girls on his computer, now faces a recommendation from Ozaukee County District Attorney Adam Gerol that he be sentenced to four and a half years in prison and eight and a half years of extended supervision.

During a court hearing Monday, Link pleaded guilty to soliciting an intimate photo from a minor and possession of child pornography. An additional charge of soliciting an intimate photo from a child, as well as a charge of exposing a child to harmful material and five additional counts of possessing child pornography were dismissed as part of a plea deal but read into the record, which means Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Steve Cain can consider them when sentencing Link.

The case dates to January 2020 when a Wisconsin Department of Justice special agent received a tip from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that Link was suspected of sending sexually explicit messages to a 13-year-old girl in Kansas City, Mo.

At the time, Link had a Saukville address but was living in a Cedarburg apartment because his Saukville house was damaged by a fire.

The agent, posing as a 13-year-old girl from Minona, sent an Instagram message to Link using the account that was flagged by the Department of Homeland Security.

Link and the agent exchanged messages, and in one of them Link asked if the person he thought was a girl would have sex with him, according to the criminal complaint.

Link also sent messages saying he wanted to have sex with a girl and her mother and asked the person he thought was the girl to send him “sexy pics,” the complaint states. The agent posing as the girl replied, “You first.” Link then sent a sexually explicit photo of a man naked from the waist down, according to the complaint.

Furniture and a carpet could be seen in the photo, and when police searched Link’s apartment they recognized the furniture and carpet in one of the bedrooms as being the same as in the photo, the complaint states.

When authorities came to Link’s apartment, they were greeted by Link and his wife, who said her husband is a day trader and she did not have passwords to his computers.

Authorities seized a computer and on it found six images suspected to be child pornography. Some of the images showed men having sex with girls, according to the complaint.

Link has been free from jail in lieu of $5,000 bail while awaiting trial, which had been scheduled to begin this week.

Gerol is recommending that as conditions of Link’s extended supervision he register as a sex offender and undergo sex offender treatment, not have unsupervised access to computers or other devices capable of accessing the internet and not have contact with children younger than 16 except for his biological children.

Cain is scheduled to sentence Link on Aug. 4.