Commit theft, serve ten months in jail. Take pictures of your girl friend in the nude, face the prospect of 150 years in prison. Is this a great country, or what?
That's what 21-year-old Thomas Deringer faces after he was ordered Feb. 2. to stand trial in the photo case. The criminal complaint says the girl was 16 when she posed for the photographs, which she wanted him to take with him during his 10-month theft sentence, says the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal.
The pictures were found and confiscated at Washington County Jail, and a sheriff's investigation found the girl was, indeed, underage, the Journal says.
Deringer's been charged with nineteen counts, mostly taking nine sexually explicit photographs of his girlfriend, plus possession of the photographs and "an enhanced penalty as a habitual criminal," the paper says. And if he's convicted on all counts, he could be looking at almost 150 years in prison if sentenced fully.
He is scheduled to enter a plea on Feb. 8.
The girl herself testified Wednesday on Deringer's behalf, the Journal says, admitting to the photos and his having them but seeming angry that he was being prosecuted over them.
"It was (my idea)," she testified. "He was afraid he was going to get in trouble…I gave them to him…before he went to jail…I really wanted him to have them."
