A 35-year-old Newburg man is facing numerous felony charges related to child sexual abuse material that Sheriff’s officials say he shared online.
Michael Westphal was taken into custody without incident after Washington County Sheriff’s Investigators were tipped off on June 20th by an Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Investigator who discovered the potential sharing of unlawful material from Westphal’s residence. When it was found that Westphal was a custodian in the West Bend School District the case was given priority and instead of the usual months, investigators worked quickly without compromising the investigation to file the charges within weeks.
Washington County Sheriff Martin Schulteis said that no evidence has been found yet to suggest there are local victims, but he stressed that there’s still a “significant amount of electronic evidence to analyze” before ruling out that possibility.
The West Bend Police Department and the School District are working with the Sheriff’s Office on the case which is still being developed. Ten felony counts have been filed so far, and anyone with more information on Westphal is asked to contact Washington County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant of Detectives Tim Kemps at (262)335-4846.
