William Waterstradt, a former Marquette track & field athlete accused of committing child sex crimes, now faces federal charges, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

A federal grand jury formally accused the 22-year-old with three charges related to the sexual exploitation of children on June 2.

Waterstradt left the university after being charged with 12 felony counts of child sex crimes in Langlade County, Wisconsin. On Jan. 21, he plead not guilty to the 12 counts. He was then charged with four more counts of child sex crimes in Sheboygan County on Jan. 28. 

Waterstradt is now charged with production of child pornography, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in prison. He is also charged with two counts of child enticement, which carry a minimum of 10 years each and a maximum of life in prison.

According to a criminal complaint, Waterstradt used a fake Snapchat account to facilitate the exploitation of several underage girls. 

Detectives recovered communication between Waterstradt and dozens of girls, some as young as 12 years old. Waterstradt falsely claimed he was 16 or 17 years old.  

According to the complaint, many underage victims reported that they had exchanged sexually explicit images with Waterstradt. Three victims stated, that when they met him in person, they engaged in sexual intercourse and/or sexual contact. Waterstradt would sometimes record these encounters on his phone. Detectives also determined that some of these recordings were shared with unknown individuals online. 

This story was written by Raquel Ruiz. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @RaquelRuizMU.