By Shereen Siewert
Police arrested a 27-year-old man who they say was skateboarding to a local parking lot for a planned sexual meetup with a 15-year-old girl.
Court records show Jesse Gayle, a Wausau man with no fixed address, had been communicating online for about five days with a 15-year-old girl. Despite being repeatedly reminded of her age, police said, Gayle continued to have sexually inappropriate conversations with her, eventually arranging to meet her in a parking lot for sex.
Police had Gayle under surveillance, however, and arrested him before he met with the girl. Investigators were able to easily identify Gayle due to his “unique appearance,” court documents state.
When Gayle was taken into custody, he allegedly admitted planning a so-called “hit-and-miss” sexual encounter with the girl, meaning he wanted to have sex with her once and never see her again, court documents state. Gayle went on to explain that he has “no respect for women” after they have sex with him, according to the police report, but planned to take the girl into nearby woods or a place he called “Hobo Park.”
Gayle is facing charges of using a computer to facilitate a sex crime, along with two bail jumping charges. Court records show he has two additional open cases in Marathon County involving unrelated drug and theft charges and was out on bond at the time of his May 16 arrest.
If he is convicted on the child sex charge alone, he faces up to 40 years in the Wisconsin Prison System.
A preliminary hearing is set for May 29.
