Sex offender to be released in Whitehall


David Lynghamer

A former Ettrick man who has spent the last decade in prison for possession of child pornography is being released in Whitehall next week.

The Whitehall Police Department issued a notification that David Lynghamer, 67, is being released on Feb. 2 and will be under the supervision of the Department of Corrections. The release sent by the WPD said Lynghamer’s “previous criminal history places him in a classification level which reflects the potential to re-offend.”

The WPD added that it has no legal authority to direct where a sex offender may live and that unless court ordered restrictions exist, the offender is constitutionally free to live wherever he chooses.

The release continued saying that “sex offenders have always lived in our communities, but it wasn’t until the passage of Act 440, the Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification law, that law enforcement even knew where they were living. Changes in the law now allow the public to access information over the internet on registered sex offenders.”

The police department warned that citizen abuse of the information obtained about Lynghamer or other registered sex offenders “will not be tolerated.” Adding “further, such abuse could potentially end law enforcement’s ability to do community notifications. This department believes that the only person who wins if community notification ends is the sex offender, since sex offenders drive their power through secrecy.”

Lynghamer was sentenced to 10 years in state prison on Dec. 9, 2011 after he pleaded no contest to downloading child pornography from the internet. Lynghamer was charged with 10 counts of possession of child pornography after the Trempealeau County Sheriff’s Department officers executed a search warrant at a town of Ettrick residence on Feb. 9, 2011.

Officers seized compact and digital video disks that contained child pornography, including videos depicting children who appeared to be 12-to-14 years old having sexual contact with each other and with adults. Lynghamer pleaded no contest to six of the 10 counts and was sentenced to 10 years in state prison and 10 years extended supervision.

He was also charged with two counts of sexual assault of a child under 13 years of age, but both were dismissed.

Conditions of Lynghamer’s extended supervision will bar him from contacting the victim or other children under the age of 18, from using devices that can access the internet and from possessing or viewing pornography.

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