JANUARY 2023:
U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier has decided on the punishment for an ex-police officer from Sioux Falls convicted of Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet.
Luke John Schauer, age 29, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and a special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund in the amount of $100.
The conviction stemmed from an incident on January 18, 2022, when Schauer attempted to coerce an undercover agent posing as a 12-year-old female, to meet and engage in sexually explicit conduct. Using his account on KIK Messenger, Schauer made plans to meet the undercover agent posing as a 12-year-old on February 8, 2022. The text messages on KIK involved interstate commerce because Schauer was in South Dakota and the undercover agent was in Pennsylvania. Schauer was employed as a police officer with the Sioux Falls Police Department at the time of the offense. He was immediately relieved of his duties upon his arrest and his employment terminated.
This case was investigated by the FBI and the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, with cooperation from the Sioux Falls Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Clapper prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.
MARCH 7, 2022:
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A former Sioux Falls police officer has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of attempted production of child pornography and transfer of obscene materials to a minor. Twenty-eight-year-old Luke John Schauer appeared in a Sioux Falls federal court Friday (March 4, 2022). Schauer is accused of attempting to employ an undercover FBI agent posing as a 12-year-old girl to engage in sexually explicit conduct. During the same time, he also allegedly sent obscene materials to the undercover agent with his cell phone. He was fired from the police department. Schauer faces up to 30 years in prison. His trial is set for April 19, 2022.
FEBRUARY 11, 2022:
A 28 year old man from Sioux Falls has been charged for Attempted Production of Child Pornography and Transfer of Obscene Materials to Minor.
Luke John Schauer pled not guilty to the Criminal Complaint.
The Criminal Complaint alleges that between January 18, 2022, and February 4, 2022, Schauer attempted to employ, use, persuade, induce, entice, and coerce an OCE undercover agent posing as a 12-year-old female minor, to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of such conduct, knowing and having reason to know that such depictions would be transported in interstate or foreign commerce or mailed and such depictions would be producing using materials that had been mailed, shipped, and transported in interstate and foreign commerce, including by computer. The Criminal Complaint also alleges that during the same periods of time, Schauer knowingly used his cellular phone to transfer and attempt to transfer obscene materials to the same undercover agent posing as a 12-year-old child.
The maximum penalty if convicted is up to 30 years in federal prison and/or a $250,000 fine, life of supervised release, and up to $200 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Restitution may also be ordered.
The investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, with cooperation from the Sioux Falls Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Clapper is prosecuting the case.
Schauer, who was an officer with the Sioux Falls Police Department, was released pending trial. A date has not yet been scheduled.
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