West Allis teen accused of possessing child porn, allegedly posting it to blog

West Allis teen accused

Ethan Gilhuber-Spade

MILWAUKEE -- A 17-year-old from West Allis is being charged as an adult with two counts of possession of child pornography. The accused is Ethan Gilhuber-Spade.

According to the criminal complaint, a West Allis police detective was assigned in December 2018 to follow-up on a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing or Exploited Children (NCMEC) regarding possible child pornography. The date associated with the tip was Sept. 11, 2018. The complaint says that tip was tied to a Tumblr account that "contained apparent child pornography."

The complaint indicates that information provided by Tumblr indicated the email address associated with the account was tied to the West Allis/West Milwaukee School District -- the same kind assigned to staff and students -- and was assigned to the Gilhuber-Spade.

The results of a warrant were returned to the West Allis detective on June 7, 2019 -- and indicated "all of the information, including the images from the Tumblr account, were uploaded to Tumblr between August 18, 2018 and September 10, 2018. That warrant showed several images of child pornography that had been shared on the blog." There were also images and members on the account that were noted as "sexual in nature."

In the complaint, officials noted a classmate of the defendant at Dottke Alternative High School indicated Gilhuber-Spade "sent him a video" that was pornographic in nature. The classmate deleted the video because he did not want it on his phone. He also "stated that the defendant told him that he had 400 images and/or videos of child pornography."

Calls to Gilhuber-Spade's attorney as well as messages seeking comment from West Allis-West Milwaukee School District went unreturned.

Gilhuber-Spade made his initial appearance in court on Sunday, June 30. Bond was set at $2,500. A preliminary hearing was set for July 8. If convicted on either of the charges, Gilhuber-Spade faces up to three-and-a-half years in prison and $10,000 in fines.