Hewitt man sentenced to life in prison for sex crimes against children
WISCONSIN RAPIDS − A 64-year-old Hewitt man will spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty to 10 felonies related to sexual contact with children in Wood County Circuit Court this month.
Brian T. McDowell also faces two federal counts of producing child pornography, according to a news release from the Wood County Sheriff's Office.
The Sheriff's Office searched McDowell's house in the village of Hewitt and arrested him on May 25, according to the news release. The Sheriff's Office, Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation and the Maine State Police Department spent hundreds of hours on the investigation.
In 1992, McDowell was convicted of first-degree sexual assault of a child and served a prison sentence. McDowell was ordered to be a lifetime registrant of the Wisconsin Sex Offender Registry. Investigators determined he continued to victimize children within the Wood County community after he was released, according to the news release.
More: Wisconsin Rapids Pizza Hut will close Monday. Here’s when they plan to reopen at their new location.
On Aug. 18, McDowell pleaded guilty to repeated sexual assault of a child, child sexual exploitation, first-degree sexual assault of a child under the age of 12, four counts of child pornography possession, one count of causing a child under the age of 14 to view or listen to sexual activities and one count of exposing genitals to a child.
Wood County Circuit Judge Greg Potter sentenced McDowell to life in prison without the possibility of release.
The federal case involving two counts of producing child pornography remains open.
Contact Karen Madden at 715-345-2245 or kmadden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMadden715, Instagram @kmadden715 or Facebook at www.facebook.com/karen.madden.33.
SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM: Our subscribers make this coverage possible. Click to see the Marshfield News-Herald's special offers at marshfieldnewsherald.com/subscribe and download our app on the App Store or Google Play.
This article originally appeared on Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune: Hewitt man sentenced to life in prison for sex crimes against children
