The husband of the chairwoman of a Wisconsin county Republican party was arrested on child porn charges.
Scott Soucek, 56, of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin was arrested on July 24 and charged with 10 counts of possessing child pornography.
Soucek is accused of accessing hundreds of child pornography images through a file-sharing system. According to court documents, investigators say they connected the child porn images shared over the last few months to an IP address assigned to Soucek.
The charges come 16 years after a separate investigation, when police say Soucek admitted to downloading child porn, but criminal charges were never referred.
Sturgeon Bay Police Chief Clint Henry, who was not police chief in 2009, told local outlet Fox 11 that the department hasn’t figured out why charges were never filed at the time.
“Obviously — well, unfortunately — our detective at the time has since retired,” Henry said. “The investigator from the county that looked at it had left and went to another agency, and our district attorney at the time has also left office.”
“I don’t know where that communication fell through the gap, but obviously if it looked like there was some evidence of a download, but we could not recover images, so I don’t know if that was the hangup? Keep in mind, back in 2009, the technology is not what we have today,” Henry said, adding that he does not think politics played a role in the decision to not refer charges at the time.
Soucek is a fervent Trump supporter who listed several reasons why he planned to cast his vote for the Republican in a Facebook post last October. Among his reasons were, “I’m voting to fight against human/child trafficking,” The Daily Beast reports.
Soucek is also the husband of Stephanie Soucek, the chairwoman of the Door County Republican Party. Last year, Mrs Soucek represented Wisconsin as a delegate at the Republican National Convention.
Mrs Soucek has also made appearances in conservative media, including on Steve Bannon’s podcast where she was interview by current FBI Director Kash Patel.
Mrs Soucek told Fox 11 she is filing for divorce, and “at this time, my main concern is for my son and I am asking for privacy at this incredibly difficult time.”