Former Clark County deputy pleads not guilty to internet sex crime
On Nov. 11, a Spencer man waived his preliminary hearing and formally entered not guilty pleas in Taylor County Circuit Court to four felony counts related to internet crimes against children.
Jeremy Chapman, 39, of Spencer was in Taylor County Circuit Court on Monday, Nov. 11. Chapman faces up to 72 years in prison and up to $220,000 in fines for charges connected to incidents alleged to have happened from December 24, 2023 and January 4, 2024. At the time the offenses are alleged to have happened, Chapman was patrol sergeant with the Clark County sheriff’s department.
Chapman faces the following charges: Sexual exploitation of a child - a class C felony with a penalty of up to 40 years in prison and up to $100,000 in fines for “persuading a child to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of recording or displaying in any way the conduct.”
Child enticement - a class D felony with a penalty of up to 25 years in prison and up to $100,000 in fines. For “intent to cause a child to expose genitals, pubic area or intimate parts to him.”
Threatening to communicate derogatory information a class I felony with a fine of up to $10,000 and up to 3 years, 6 months in prison for “maliciously threaten with the intent to extort money or any pecuniary advantage whatever or with intent to compel the person so threatened to do any act against the person’s will.”
Solicit intimate representation from minor - a class I Felony, with a penalty of up to $10,000 in fines and up to 3 years, 6 months in prison for soliciting “an intimate or private representation from a person who the actor believed or had reason to believe had not attained the age of 18 years.”
A pretrial conference was set for January 8, 2025 at 10 a.m., a status hearing is scheduled for February 14 at 10 a.m. The court continued the bond as a $10,000 signature bond and a $2,500 cash bond with conditions of having no contact with 16-year-old victim and no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18.
Chapman faces the charges resulting from incidents involving a 16-year-old girl and online social media platforms. According to the criminal complaint, the victim told officers that the user identified as “outdoorsman222” made contact with her and requested photos from her posing as a 19-year-old college student.
According to the report: “[The victim] said outdoorsman222 threatened her and blackmailed her into sending additional inappropriate photographs and joining him on the Google Meet video chat. [The victim] said outdoorsman222 threatened to share the photographs she sent him with school staff, and other students at her school. [The victim] said outdoorsman222 threatened to rape her.”
According to the criminal complaint the victim told Det. Aemus Balsis that she was so scared she needed her friend to take her to the school office. After reporting the incident, she screenshotted the username and profile name and then deleted the contact from her Snapchat. A few weeks later, she said the username added her again and apologized to her and tried to convince her to stop reporting it.
The IP addresses connected with use of the outdoorsman222 user name on the social media platforms was traced to Chapman’s residence as wells his parent’s residence in Marshfield and to the Loyal City Hall, which also houses the Loyal Police Department.
According to Heather Murray of the Clark County Personnel Department, Chapman is no longer employed at the Clark County Sheriff's Office.
