Sheriff alerts public to sex offender’s release

A 44-year-old sex offender who was convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in 1997, then found guilty of possessing child pornography years later has been released from prison and is living in the Town of Port Washington, according to a bulletin issued by the Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office this week. 

James F. Lala, who is currently under the supervision of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, was also convicted in 2017 of violating sex offender registry rules for failing to report his Facebook account to state authorities. 

In its notification, the Sheriff’s Office noted that state law allows it to inform the public of a sex offender’s release from incarceration to protect public safety and raise awareness, adding that Lala’s crimes place him “in a classification level which reflect the potential to reoffend.”

“This notification is not intended to increase fear, rather it is our belief that an informed public is a safer public,” the bulletin reads.

Lala’s trouble with the law began in 1998 when he was charged with sexually assaulting a girl in July 1997 at her Mequon home, where he was temporarily living. He was 21 at the time. The girl was 15.

He was also charged with incest with a child because he was related to the girl. 

Ultimately, Lala reached a plea deal with the Ozaukee County District Attorney’s Office, which dropped the incest charge in return for Lala’s plea to sexual assault and agreed to recommend that a prison sentence be withheld and that Lala be placed on probation for a lengthy period of time and serve time in the county jail.

But the probation agent who wrote a pre-sentence report concluded Lala was a high-risk sex offender and recommended he be sentenced to prison.

During the sentencing hearing, then Assistant District Attorney Adam Gerol, who is now district attorney, told the court his office stood by its recommendation, but called Lala “a very great risk to other people in this community,” according to court records.

Circuit Judge Tom Wolfgram rejected the recommendation for probation and instead sentenced Lala to seven years in prison. He said Lala’s sexual behavior was “outside of the mainstream of sexual preferences ... and because I think that you have in fact approached other young girls (I believe) that you present a very real danger to the community.”

In 2006, Lala was charged with 20 counts of possessing child pornography on a computer at his Jackson Street home in Port Washington after police seized his computer in December 2004 based on a report from his probation agent.

Several photos of naked girls who appeared to be younger than 18 were found on the computer, but Lala said he only downloaded photos of clothed girls. He did admit, however, to searching an “incest chat” site, according to the criminal complaint.

He pleaded no contest to two of the counts and was sentenced to a year in jail.

In 2007, Lala, who had a Grafton address at the time, was charged with four more counts of possessing child pornography dating to 2004 when he lived in Port Washington.

A forensic analysis of Lala’s computer done by the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation found emails he sent to people in an apparent attempt to order custom videos of naked prepubescent girls. He attached photos of girls, some of whom were exposing themselves and striking suggestive poses, to the emails as examples of what he liked, the complaint states.

An Ozaukee County jury found Lala guilty of all four counts and he was sentenced to prison.

Lala was released from prison on Tuesday, Oct. 6, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Under the conditions of his release, he cannot have unsupervised contact with minors and is prohibited from purchasing or consuming alcohol.