Oak Creek Man Arrested in Virginia Sex Predator Sting

A 43-year-old Oak Creek man is accused of distributing child pornography to a person he thought was a 14-year-old girl he met in a chatroom but was actually a detective from Virginia.

Richard Lee Tomaszewski was charged in Milwaukee County Circuit Court Thursday with attempting to cause a child to view a sexual act, four counts of sexual exploitation of a child and three counts of possession of child pornography. If convicted, he faces up to 123 years in prison and $705,000 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint:

A detective with the Fairfax County (Va.) Police Department contacted the Oak Creek Police Department Nov. 26 after the detective received child pornography images from Tomaszewski through the Internet.

The detective said he posed as a 14-year-old girl Nov. 7 in a chatroom called "Voracious Vixens," when Tomaszewski began chatting with him, saying he just had some sex dreams and "just woke up very horny, lol."

Tomaszewski then asked the detective to exchange photos, even though the detective said he was 14. Tomaszewski sent more than 21 images of child pornography to a person he thought was a teenage girl.

Tomaszewski told the detective he was 24 years old and lived in Wisconsin. He sent the "girl" his cell phone number in case she wanted to talk or text.

The detective looked into Tomaszewski's screen name and discovered he had asked to trade child porn images on other websites.

On Dec. 5, the detective and Oak Creek police raided Tomaszewski's apartment in the 200 block of E. Field Stone Circle, where Tomaszewski lives with his brother. When officers asked Tomaszewski if he knew why they were there, he said he wasn't surprised to see a detective from Virginia there because the detective "lured him" into believing he was a young girl.

Tomaszewski added that he shouldn't be surprised because "everyone on the Internet lies."

Tomaszewski is being held in Milwaukee County Jail. The case remains under investigation.