The former president of Franklin College who was fired this week after his arrest in Wisconsin could face up to 68 years in prison after he sent sexually explicit messages, including photos, to an undercover officer posing as a 15 year old.
The Door County, Wisconsin district attorney on Wednesday charged Thomas J. Minar with child enticement, use of a computer to facilitate a sex crime and exposing a child to harmful materials, all felonies that carry a maximum sentence of 68 1/2 years in prison if convicted on all counts and ordered to serve sentences separately, as well as up to $210,000 in fines.
An officer with the Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin police department said he was starting an Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigation on Jan. 6. The officer created a profile on Grindr, which indicated he was a 19-year-old man named Tyler.
Grindr is a social media networking app geared toward gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. The app claims it is the world’s largest for the LGBTQ community, according to its website.
Minar is the college’s first openly gay president. The college announced on Monday that Minar had been fired as president.
About 1:30 p.m. Jan. 6, Minar, who identified himself as a 53-year-old man on the messaging app, began chatting with the undercover officer, according to court documents filed Wednesday morning in the Door County Circuit Court.
Minar exchanged messages with the officer, who eventually told Minar he was 15. Minar continued to send sexually explicit messages and photos to the officer throughout the day, and said he had a vacation home in the area, court documents said.
The online exchange lasted nearly until his arrest around 8:30 p.m. that night.
Minar made references to pornography and said several times that what the officer was saying was “hot,” or “sexy,” and mused on what the child’s body and underwear might look like, according to messages between the two that were included in the court documents.
Minar also said he thought it was “hot” that the boy was 14 years old when he had sex with an older man, court documents said.
As the chat progressed, Minar sent multiple photos of himself in his underwear, some of which also showed his face, asked questions about the boy’s body and asked for photos, according to court documents.
The officer attempted to move the conversation to text, but Minar told him it would be bad if messages between the two were found on his phone, court documents said.
Minar later suggested they meet, court documents said.
The duo arranged a meeting at a fast-food restaurant in the area. “And we just hang out right,” Minar said about the arranged meeting, according to the documents.
Police arrested Minar at the restaurant. Minar told police he was not looking for “sexual things,” and that if the conversations turned sexual, it was part of a fantasy, documents said.
He also told police nothing sexual would have occurred and that young gay men need mentors and role models. He said he started the conversations on Grindr because he was curious and bored and he thought chatting with a 15 year old could lead to conversation, friendship and education, according to court documents.
Minar said he is normally attracted to young adult men and has never been attracted to children, but he had communicated with minors using the app in the past, court documents said.
Brett Reetz, Minar’s defense attorney based in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, declined to comment on the incident or charges.
College officials were already in the process of searching for a new president. Minar announced last year he would be resigning his position in June 2020. That search will continue, according to a news release from the college.
Kerry Prather, who has served the college for 37 years as athletic director and head men’s basketball coach, was named acting president Tuesday night.
