MADISON, WIS. – Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Kristopher L. Halverson, 32, of La Crosse, Wisconsin, was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to six years in prison for receiving child pornography. This term of imprisonment will be followed by 20 years of supervised release. Halverson pleaded guilty to this charge on August 10, 2022.
In January 2021, the Grand Ledge Police Department in Grand Ledge, Michigan responded to a report of inappropriate communication between a 12-year-old female and a male, later identified as Kristopher Halverson. Based on this complaint, the FBI obtained a search warrant for Halverson’s home in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, and searched a car where Halverson was found. During the search of the car, officers found an iPhone on the passenger floorboard. The iPhone had an active Google Duo phone call running with a different girl’s contact name.
After further analysis of the phone, agents were able to identify the Google Duo contact as a 15-year-old girl from Texas. The girl was interviewed and disclosed that she met Halverson while gaming and he began sending her gifts. The defendant repeatedly asked the girl to send explicit images to him and she ultimately did so.
The charge against Halverson was the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI, the Grand Ledge (Michigan) Police Department, and the Coulee Region Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, that includes the La Crosse Police Department, La Crosse County Sheriff’s Department, Village of Holmen Police Department, Onalaska Police Department, West Salem Police Department and Town of Campbell Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Altman prosecuted this case.
