By Shereen Siewert
A 19-year-old Wausau-area man is facing criminal charges after multiple cyber tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children resulted in dozens of explicit images and files of children discovered in his possession, according to court documents.
Alexander Gosse, of Marathon, will be summoned into court Dec. 9 to face 10 counts of possession of child pornography.
The charges were filed Nov. 18 in Marathon County Circuit court.
According to a criminal complaint, investigators were acting on multiple tips reported by Google and Snapchat that identified suspected child pornography. Police traced the uploads to Gosse and discovered about 55 suspect files, according to court documents. The images largely involved children who had not yet reached puberty and were captured on video as they were being assaulted, police said.
In an interview, Gosse allegedly told investigators he was part of a group on Snapchat that actively traded child pornography, but said he had since removed himself from the group. Police said Gosse “likened the trading of [child pornography] to trading baseball cards.
Gosse, who is not in custody, faces up to 250 years in the Wisconsin State Prison System if he is convicted on all counts.
