Tomah Man Sentenced to Over 17 Years for Using Minors to Produce Child Pornography

 MADISON, WIS. – Timothy M. O’Shea, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Shannon R. Donoho, 43, Tomah, Wisconsin, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to 210 months in federal prison for possessing child pornography and using minors to produce child pornography.  This prison term is to be followed by 25 years of supervised release.  Donoho was convicted of these charges on May 13, 2021, after a three-day jury trial in federal court in Madison.

The investigation in this case began when law enforcement downloaded child pornography made available by Donoho on an online file sharing network. Following a search warrant executed at Donoho’s home, law enforcement recovered hundreds of images and videos of child pornography from the defendant’s computers and external storage devices. These images and videos included depictions of children as young as five years old engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Law enforcement also determined Donoho used hidden cameras to record at least two children with whom he had personal relationships between 2016 and 2018.  The defendant secretly recorded these victims, who were under the age of 12 at the time, as they showered and used the bathroom at his home and the home of a former girlfriend. The resulting videos and screenshots focused on the victims’ genitals and were also saved to Donoho’s computers and external hard drives.  He produced the images using multiple hidden GoPro cameras.

In sentencing Donoho, Judge Conley emphasized the defendant’s supervisory control over the two identified victims that he recorded.  This supervisory control included babysitting them and giving them rides to school.  Judge Conley found that Donoho’s manipulation of his position of trust was an aggravating factor, as was the subsequent traumatization of these children following the discovery of the secret recordings. 

The charges against Donoho were the result of an investigation conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation and the Tomah Police Department.  The prosecution of the case has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Julie S. Pfluger and Taylor L. Kraus.