By Shereen Siewert
WAUSAU — A Marshfield man who received a deferred sentence on charges of child sexual assault will receive a new sentence, after a judge revoked his plea agreement.
The agreement was nixed in March, several months after police discovered sexually explicit photos and videos of a minor on the man’s phone. Tylyn Hoover, 26, was convicted in March of possessing child pornography, violating his probation. A sentencing hearing is set for June in Marathon County Circuit Court.
The most recent charges stem from an investigation that began in May, after Hoover’s Taylor County probation officer alerted police Hoover likely had child pornography images stored on his phone. Officers searched Hoover’s phone and discovered 16 sexually exploit photos.
In addition, police found a video of the girl he was convicted of sexually assaulting in December 2014, when the girl was 14 years old.
Police say the images were screenshots taken from SnapChat conversations with the girl. The images were then encrypted and stored in a hidden app on Hoover’s phone that appears to the casual observer to be a calculator app. But instead of a calculator, the app is really a photo and video vault that is protected by a unique password.
Hoover also admitted to sending photos of his genitalia to the girl through SnapChat, according to police.
Hoover’s earlier plea deal would have kept him out of prison if he stayed out of trouble and successfully completed probation over a four-year period. Had Hoover been successful in probation, the sexual assault charge would have been dismissed in 2021.
As part of the plea agreement, Hoover was ordered not to have any contact with the girl. Police believe the new communications with the teen victim happened in August 2017, the same month Hoover was given the deferred sentencing agreement and when the girl was 16.
A presentencing investigation is underway for Hoover, who remains behind bars. He now faces up to 40 years in the Wisconsin Prison System for the child sexual assault charge, and an additional 25 years for the child pornography charge.
He’ll be sentenced June 6.
