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Charges were filed last week against a 53-year-old Bangor sex offender accused of photographing two teenage boys.
Larry Benoit was charged on Friday in La Crosse County Circuit Court with two counts of a sex offender photographing minors without a parent’s consent.
Benoit is a registered sex offender stemming from a 1993 conviction of second-degree sexual assault of a child, Assistant District Attorney Dean Syrjanen said during Benoit’s bond hearing last week.
He is accused of taking photographs of two 13-year-old boys within the past month, Syrjanen said.
Benoit was arrested on June 19 at his house on Oak Street after a parent reported he was hanging out with a 13-year-old, said Bangor Police Chief Scott Alo.
“When he turned over his cell phone, he told officers there would be things on his cell phone and asked what he meant, he said, ‘You know,’” Syrjanen said in court.
State statues prohibit those on the sex offender registry from photographing anyone younger than 17 without the parent’s permission.
As conditions of his bond, Benoit is restricted from having contact with the victims or any minors and cannot possess cameras, cell phones or computers.
A preliminary hearing was set for today, June 26.
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