An Oneida County man receives a sentence of more than eight years in federal prison for transporting obscene material across state lines.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin says 73-year-old James Hornung of Newbold was sentenced to 100 months for two separate charges.
He pleaded guilty in December.
In September of 2023, someone called the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office and said they found a duffel bag along a logging trail.
The bag contained a laptop, flash drives, SD cards and other electronics.
Almost 3500 media files containing apparent child pornography were found.
A profile on the computer led back to Hornung.
Officers interviewed Hornung who admitted that he owned the duffel bag and said there was child pornography on the discs and flash drives.
Hornung said that he searched and collected child pornography, put it into the duffel bag, and hid it because he was paranoid that he would get caught with it.
The judge believed Hornung left the bag so he could retrieve it after being released in another child pornography case.
Hornung had previous convictions dating back to 1979.
Judge William Conley observed that Hornung was a sexual predator who was either unwilling or unable to address his long-standing attraction to minors.
In addition to this federal conviction, Hornung was convicted of second-degree sexual assault in 1979, sexual assault of child in 1997, and possession of child pornography in 2023.
The charges against Hornung were the result of an investigation conducted by the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office and the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation.
