July 29, 2025
DE SOTO, Wis – The Vernon County Sheriff’s Office says it has referred a registered sex offender from La Crosse to the District Attorney on 24 counts of illegally photographing minors from three area schools at a sporting event in De Soto last October. Sheriff Roy Torgerson said the photos were discovered by La Crosse Police when they executed a search warrant at the home of 41-year-old Jonathan Staats of La Crosse.
In late March 2025, the Vernon County Sheriff’s Office received a report from the La Crosse Police Department indicating that during the execution of a search warrant at the home of a registered sex offender, digital storage media was found containing photographs of minors, believed to have been taken in Vernon County. The investigation revealed that twenty-four victims, all minors, from three area school districts were photographed during a sporting event in October 2024, in the Village of De Soto. All victims that were photographed have been identified. As a result of the investigation Staats was identified as the source of the photographs.
The Sheriff’s Office says findings of the investigation to date have been forwarded to the Office of Vernon County District Attorney Angela Palmer-Fisher for review. The Sheriff’s Office is recommending a charge of registered sex offender Intentionally photographing minors 948.14(2)(a) for each victim photographed for a total of twenty-four counts. A charge is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
In November 2023, Staats was convicted of trafficking of a child, party to the crime, in La Crosse
County Circuit Court and required to register as a sex offender for fifteen years.
Staats is currently facing multiple felony charges in La Crosse County stemming from a La Crosse Police Child Pornography investigation that began in February 2025 following a cyber tip. The Vernon County photos were subsequently discovered during their investigation. Staats has remained in the custody of the La Crosse County Sheriff since his arrest on March 25, 2025.
The investigation continues. If you have any information about this crime, or any other crime, call
Crime Stoppers at 608-637-TIPS (8477), or submit a tip online at www.p3tips.com
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