Nathaniel Shuda

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

OSHKOSH - A former pastor says he regrets what prosecutors called "sexually aggressive" online chats with who he thought was a 13-year-old girl he planned to meet for sex while in town for a pastor's conference.

Joshua C. Scheil, 29, formerly of Trevor, was sentenced Thursday in Winnebago County Circuit Court to two years in prison, three years of extended supervision and 15 years of probation for child enticement and causing a child 13 or younger to view sexual activity.

"I screwed up, your honor; there's no denying that," Scheil said during Thursday's sentencing hearing. "I've lost most everything important to me. I've lost my wife. I've lost a career that was important to me. I've lost all of my friends. ... Those 11 days (in jail) were absolute hell for me."

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Judge Thomas Gritton also ordered Scheil to have no unsupervised contact with children, to not use a computer, smartphone or tablet, to keep or look for a full-time job, to submit a DNA sample and to undergo any counseling deemed necessary. Scheil also will be listed on the Sex Offender Registry for the rest of his life.

Scheil pleaded guilty to the charges July 21, when a count of using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime was dismissed and read into the record.

"He simply should have known better," Winnebago County Deputy District Attorney Scott Ceman said Thursday. "His employment as a Lutheran minister put him in a position to speak with children and families. ... He totally shattered the trust of his congregation."

"It's my opinion, though I cannot prove it, that this was not his first time doing this," Ceman said, noting evidence that Scheil had been arranging a three-person sexual encounter with the teen and an 18-year-old woman from Wausau.

Defense attorney Greg Petit disputed Ceman's theory that Scheil was "seeking out children" with whom to have sex, asking the judge to sentence Scheil to five years probation, including one year in jail. Had an actual child showed up to the meeting, Petit said he believes his client would not have gone through with it.

"I believe that nothing would've happened," Petit said. "There is literally nothing on his record that would indicate a pattern of behavior. ... He's certainly remorseful and embarrassed."

Gritton said the issue of online child predators has become "out of control" and that he thinks that if Scheil had met with an actual 13-year-old girl, he would have followed through with his plan to have sex with her.

"Untreated, pornography and predatory behavior like this is incredibly dangerous," Gritton said. "I believe it's a behavior that's ingrained and requires long-term treatment."

"All 97 of those people (in your congregation) trusted that they had a pastor they could go to and he'd be a person above board that they could trust," Gritton said. "People will see this, and your behavior will get pulled over to all other Lutheran churches and pastors, just like the Catholic Church and their issues."

According to court documents, Scheil contacted an undercover crime analyst who was posing as a 13-year-old girl from the Oshkosh area. Scheil sent several sexually explicit messages, including a photo of his genitals. He also said he wanted to have sexual relations when he came to town April 11 to 13 and asking to meet. When Scheil showed up for the meeting, authorities arrested him.

At the time of his arrest, Scheil served as a pastor at Hope Lutheran Church in Twin Lakes and was in Oshkosh for the South Wisconsin District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod's spring pastors conference at the Best Western Premier Waterfront Hotel.

Reach Nathaniel Shuda at 920-426-6632 or nshuda@thenorthwestern.com; on Twitter: @onwnshuda.