Tuesday afternoon, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrest of 43-year old Scott Schug of Merrill, in connection to an Internet Crimes Abuse Against Children (ICAC) investigation.
On Wednesday, Schug was officially charged in Lincoln County Circuit Court on multiple Felony charges including three counts of 2nd Degree Sexual Assault of a child, two counts of Possession of Child Pornography, two counts of Using a Computer to Facilitate a Child Sex Crime, two counts of Exposing Genitals to a Child and three counts of Child Enticement-Sexual Assault.
According to a criminal complaint filed by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, investigators were notified by ICAC on October 8th of a possible child pornography case involving Schug.
Upon further investigation, it was discovered Schug had reportedly been involved in a sexual relationship with a 15-year old female, beginning when the victim was 14 years old. The relationship was reportedly maintained via social media and text messaging. Schug reportedly engaged in sexual contact with the victim on 3 different occasions at his residences in both Lincoln and Marathon Counties.
On various occasions during the relationship, Schug reportedly attempted to convince the victim to engage in sexual contact while watching pornographic videos with him. Schug reportedly denied having sexual sexual contact with the victim, but did admit to requesting and receiving exposing photographs of the victim.
Schug remains in the custody of the Lincoln County Jail on $100,000 cash bond. If convicted of all counts, Schug could face over 80 years in prison.