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Police investigate child pornography complaint
Richard Geasland1
Richard T. Geasland

CUBA CITY—The Cuba City Police Department conducted a search warrant on Tuesday, Oct. 6, and uncovered a significant amount of child pornography at the residence of a 67-year-old Cuba City man.

Cuba City Police Chief Terry Terpstra said he and his staff, with the assistance of the Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigations (DCI), searched Richard T. Geasland’s residence in the 300 block of South Main Street and found child pornography.

“In all of my years in law enforcement, this is the worst case I’ve dealt with for the material and what is involved,” Terpstra said.

Terpstra said based on the information presented to him, he wrote up a report explaining probable cause for a search warrant and submitted it to the Grant County District Attorney for review. Terpstra determined that Geasland had a history of sexual assault, was convicted of first degree sexual assault in 1984 and noted that Geasland was no longer on supervision. The district attorney determined there was enough probable cause to secure a search warrant and it was submitted to a Grant County judge for a signature.

Terpstra said the initial complaint was received at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 6. The warrant was secured by 6:30 p.m. and it was initiated at 7:30 p.m. with the assistance of the DCI of Madison. A forensics analysis specialist from Milwaukee also joined the DCI team. They were at Geasland’s home from 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday to 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

Geasland was arrested and transported to the Grant County Jail and the investigation is ongoing.

Terpstra said the investigation could take up to two months to review all of the computer equipment. The next step is to present the information to the federal prosecutor for review. Terpstra said the federal prosecutor wanted to see the evidence on Monday in Madison to determine if it is a federal case or if it will be prosecuted through Grant County.

Terpstra clarified that if the case is tried at the federal level, there is a 10-year minimum incarceration if Geasland is found guilty, whereas at the county or state level, there is a three-year minimum incarceration for the same crime.

Terpstra said it was a “substantial amount of child pornography, to the point that the investigators who do this on a daily basis said it was one of the worst cases they’ve ever seen.”

He said there is more to the case, but that he can’t discuss details because it is an ongoing investigation.

“This greatly impacts the community,” Terpstra said. “This was a predator that was removed from our community. This subject had thousands upon thousands of images [on a computer]. As far as we know, no images are of local people.”