Shorewood Man Pleads Guilty to Trying to Solicit Teen Online

A 41-year-old Shorewood man faces up to 40 years in prison afterpleading guilty to one charge of use a computer to facilitate a child sex crime following a sting staged by local law enforcement. 

James Donelan was charged in February after he engaged in an sexually explicit conversation with what he thought was a 15-year-old Shorewood boy—but was actually an undercover detective with the Milwaukee Police Department. He pleaded guilty in Milwaukee County Circuit Court Jan. 4 and will be sentenced March 21, according to online court records. 

According to the criminal complaint:

On Jan. 10, 2012, a Milwaukee PD detective responded to a post by Donelan on Yahoo personals titled, “Looking for a hot younger white boy that knows what he's doing. Can host.”

Over the remainder of the month, Donelan, using the username Newtonmilw74, chatted with the detective several times via email. A 15-page criminal complaint logs the conversation.

Donelan agreed to meet on Jan. 30 at the Citgo gas station, 1602 E. Capitol Dr., across the street from Shorewood High School, but Donelan drove past the station and to Walgreens, 4081 N. Oakland Ave., where he remained for 30 minutes while he continued to send emails on his iPhone to the undercover detective. 

Two days later, detectives received an email from Donelan asking, "you still interested," and eventually arranged another meet at the Citgo gas station, where he was finally arrested by officers. 

He later acknowledged while being questioned by detectives he went to the gas station to meet a 15-year-old boy. Donelan stated that he only showed up out of curiosity and that he did not think they were going to engage in sexual contact.