A Hinsdale man was arrested April 18 in Minnesota on four felony counts related to attempted sexual conduct with a minor.
Derrick D. Willman, 56, 502 N. Garfield Ave., faces the following charges: attempted criminal sexual conduct, third degree (penetration) with a victim age 14-15; attempted criminal sexual conduct, fourth degree (contact) with a victim age 14-15; soliciting a child or someone believed to be a child through electronic communication to engage in sexual conduct; and engaging in electronic communication relating to or describing sexual conduct with a child, according to the Stearns County Attorney’s office in St. Cloud, Minn.
He was released April 21 after posting $25,000 in bond, according to the Stearns County Court Administration office.
According to the complaint, investigator Celeste Walz with the Central Minnesota Human Trafficking Task Force began chatting March 31 in an online chatroom for youth ages 13-17-in an undercover role as a 14-year-old girl. Investigators know the chatroom as a place where teens are frequently solicited to engage in sexual conduct, the complaint states.
There she began communicating with a man who sent a photo of himself to her. She sent back a photo embedded with an IP tracker which, along with a cell number he provided, led investigators to Willman, according to the complaint.
The agent and Willman sent several messages through the chat room and later via text in which he indicated he would be in Minneapolis on business and wanted to take her out, according to the complaint. The agent identified herself twice as a 14-year-old girl, transcripts of their communication indicate.
“yeah are you ok that i am 14?” Walz wrote.
“i am obviously it would have to be our secret,” the defendant responded.
She later described her first kiss with a boy, “the same age as me 14.”
The conversation progressed as Willman made plans to travel to Minnesota while the girl’s mom was out of town and discussed behaviors he wanted to engage in with her. On April 18 he arrived at an address he had been provided in a black Escalade with an Illinois license plate and texted, “I’m here,” the complaint states. Walz told the defendant to come to the door. After he exited his vehicle and knocked on the door, investigators took him into custody.
Willman told authorities he was there to meet someone who looked like Walz, that the female he had been talking to was 18 and that he did not recall the site where he met her online, according to the complaint. He said he did not arrive with the intention of having sex with the person with whom he had been communicating.
Willman’s next court date is May 19. Penalties for the felonies range from 7.5 years in prison and/or a $15,000 fine to five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.
