Minnesota Man Creighton Mithaugen Sentenced to 97 Months for Traveling to Wisconsin to Meet 'Minor' Who Was an Undercover Agent
MADISON, Wis. — Chadwick M. Elgersma, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Creighton Mithaugen, 38, of Faribault, Minnesota, was sentenced this week by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to 97 months in federal prison for traveling from Minnesota to Wisconsin to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor.
The prison term will be followed by a lifetime of supervised release. Mithaugen pleaded guilty to the charge on July 13, 2026.
From April 2024 through February 2026, Mithaugen chatted online with someone he believed to be a 14- or 15-year-old girl, who was in fact an undercover law enforcement agent. On February 13, 2026, he was arrested after driving from his Minnesota home to a prearranged meeting spot in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, to meet the purported minor for sexual activity.
At the sentencing hearing, Judge Conley considered Mithaugen's history, which included a 2007 conviction for sex with a fifteen-year-old girl and credible allegations that he touched a ten-year-old girl in 2022, and concluded that he was a repeat and dangerous sex offender. The judge found that a lengthy sentence was necessary to protect some of the most vulnerable members of society from his predatory behavior.
The charge was the result of an investigation by the Oneida County Sheriff's Office, the Rhinelander Police Department, the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Pfluger prosecuted the case.
The investigation was part of Project Safe Childhood, the Justice Department's nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. Parents and guardians can learn how to recognize and prevent online exploitation of children through the Justice Department's Project Safe Childhood page.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：本案量刑地 Madison 的 Robert W. Kastenmeier 联邦法院大楼（威斯康星西区联邦地区法院所在地）。Corey Coyle 摄，CC BY 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Robert W. Kastenmeier U.S. Courthouse in Madison, where the sentence was imposed. By Corey Coyle, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
