MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – Matthew D. Krueger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, announced that on January 21, 2021, Ronald P. Ortgea (age: 47) of Dyer, Indiana, was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison by Senior United States District Judge William C. Griesbach.
In June of 2020, Ortega began corresponding via a popular messaging platform with someone he believed to be a 40-year-old woman in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. During these conversations Ortega sent videos containing child pornography and stated his desire to have sexual intercourse with the woman’s 15-year-old daughter. On July 6, 2020, Ortega travelled from Indiana to Oshkosh to meet the woman and her child at a local motel. Ortega brought lingerie, sex toys, and electronic devices for the purpose of capturing images of himself engaged in sexual activity with the child. The “woman” was, in fact, an undercover law enforcement officer, and Ortega was arrested.
Ortega’s indictment and subsequent conviction were part of Operation Kick Boxer, a collaborative effort involving the Milwaukee Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, and the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office. (https://go.usa.gov/xfPHh).
In handing down the sentence, Senior District Judge Griesbach noted the very serious nature of the charge and the need for just punishment. Following his release from prison, Ortega will spend seven years on supervised release. He will also be required to register as a sexual offender.
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 U.S. Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Milwaukee and Green Bay Offices, as well as the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel R. Humble.