On Tuesday, the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Rhinelander man for attempted child sexual assault.
Forty-two-year-old Richard Duellman thought he was meeting up with a 15-year-old girl for sex when he was arrested.
An Internet Crimes Against Children investigation led deputies to Duellman, said Oneida County Sheriff’s Captain Terri Hook.
“I’m sure, [on Tuesday], if there was a 15-year-old girl that met Mr. Duellman, we would have another victim, another child victim, of sexual assault by an adult,” Hook said.
Investigations by Hook’s team often take patience leading up to an arrest.
“This is a process that’s ongoing for numerous days in a row, can be months at a time with some offenders,” Hook said. “Then, it comes the time when there is the decision that there is going to be a meeting, and, at that point, we put together an arrest team.”
Duellman has a history of problems with child sexual abuse.
He’s been convicted three times since 2013 for related crimes in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
“These kinds of cases, sex offenders, there’s a lot of recidivism. That’s why we spend so much time monitoring them here in Oneida County. That’s why we spend a lot of time working undercover operations to try to catch these people so that they don’t have contact with our children,” Hook said.
The Oneida County investigations unit has put a major emphasis on online child sex crimes.
Sheriff Grady Hartman said he’s sure Duellman would have victimized another child if not for the arrest.
