Former Lutheran Official Gets Prison for Violating Child Porn Probation

By Bruce Vielmetti
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
January 24, 2013

http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/former-lutheran-official-gets-prison-for-violating-child-porn-probation-fp8gpf0-188281871.html

A former Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod official has been sentenced to prison after he violated conditions of his probation on a conviction of possessing child pornography.

Joel Hochmuth, 53, had been sentenced last year to a year in jail with work release privileges and 10 years of probation.

At the time, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Kathryn W. Foster warned Hochmuth that any hint of "going back to any kind of behavior like this" would result in a prison term of up to the maximum 25 years.

Foster sentenced Hochmuth on Wednesday to four years in prison, followed by five years of extended supervision. He was given credit for 242 days he's spent in jail.

His attorney, Paul Bucher, said Hochmuth's violations did not involve any assaultive behavior, or more exposure to pornography. He said Hochmuth, after failing a polygraph exam, admitted that he had watched a boy's cross-country team as it ran, and once disrobed and masturbated in the woods while he was performing his work-release job as a landscaper.

"You're on a very, very short leash on sex offender probation," Bucher said.

Before he was charged, Hochmuth used the Internet to download hundreds of images of boys engaged in sexual acts with other youths and men.

Hochmuth, who was the communications director for the synod, was charged in November 2011 with three counts of possession of child pornography. He was fired by the synod one day after the charges were filed against him in Waukesha County Circuit Court.

As part of a plea agreement that avoided a trial, Hochmuth pleaded guilty March 9 to one count of possession of child pornography. The two other counts were dismissed.