Sex offender to be released in Whitehall

For the fourth time this year, a convicted sex offender will be released in Whitehall.

A press release sent by the Whitehall Police Department said that James Springer, 56, will be released on Oct. 18 and plans to live in the Whitehall area. The release stated that the police department has no legal authority to direct where a sex offender may or may not live. Unless court ordered restrictions exist, the offender is constitutionally free to live wherever he or she chooses. 

The Wisconsin Department of Corrections lists four charges connected to Springer. Three, including a 1991 case in Trempealeau County and two in Eau Claire County, are restricted to the public. In the fourth, Springer pleaded no contest to first-degree sexual assault of a child in Eau Claire on March 1, 1996. Springer was sentenced to serve 40 years in state prison, but is, apparently, being released early. He has been in a supervised living facility since 2011. 

According to the DOC, Springer was first registered as a sex offender on Oct. 9, 1991. 

The release sent by the WPD says that Springer’s previous criminal history places him in a classification level which reflects the potential to re-offend. However, citizen abuse of this information to “threaten, intimidate or harass registered sex offenders will not be tolerated.”

The release adds that any abuse toward Springer “could potentially end law enforcement’s ability to do community notifications. This department believes the only person who wins if community notification ends is the sex offender, since sex offenders derive their power through secrecy.”

While he is free to live in the community, the release states that Springer has specific rules of his extended supervision, including electronic monitoring, no contact with the victims, no unsupervised contact with minors, he can not enter taverns, consume alcohol or drugs and is not to be at schools, parks or playgrounds. 

Springer is listed at five-foot-four, 145 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. His listed aliases are Hawk Springer and Reese Springer. 

Springer is the fourth sex offender to be released in 2021, David Lynghamer was released in January and now resides in Osseo, Nicholas Riley resides in Whitehall after being released in May and Timothy Brantner is listed as being incarcerated — though no additional charges have been filed — after being released in June.