Child pornography case advances in Douglas County court

Maria Lockwood, Superior Telegram, Wis.
Updated ·2 min read

Mar. 29—SUPERIOR — A Superior man who allegedly downloaded hundreds of questionable images to his cellphone, including children engaging in sexually explicit acts, waived his preliminary hearing in Douglas County Circuit Court on Wednesday, March 27.

Gavin Jorge Bigjoe, 21, faces 10 felony counts of possession of child pornography.

A cash bond of $20,000 was set for Bigjoe and he was ordered to have no contact with minors and no use of the internet using any electronic devices. He remained in custody at the Douglas County Jail.

According to the complaint, Superior Police Sergeant Jeff Harriman with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received a tip in June from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about four files of apparent child pornography that were found on a chat app called Discord. The IP address for the account was provided through a subpoena and connected to Bigjoe at an address in Superior, according to the criminal complaint. A second tip came from X (formerly known as Twitter) regarding two flagged uploads from the same account.

A search warrant was executed at Bigjoe's residence on Sept. 19 and seven electronic devices were seized. When Harriman interviewed him, Bigjoe reportedly admitted that Harriman would find a couple of illegal images or videos on his phone that he had downloaded from multiple apps.

Harriman located 262 files depicting a child under the age of 18 engaged in sexually explicit acts or the focal point of the image or video is the child's genitalia, the complaint said. He also reported locating 464 files of "child erotica" involving children under the age of 18. Child erotica is not in and of itself child pornography, according to the complaint, but may be arousing to people having a sexual interest in minors. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children confirmed 33 images and 11 video files of known identified child sex abuse material from Bigjoe's phone, the complaint said.

Each of the Class D felonies carries a maximum fine of up to 25 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $100,000. Bigjoe's next court appearance was set for May 6.