Former village administrator faces 12 years in prison
By Scott Bellile
An Outagamie County judge has delayed sentencing for a former Hortonville village administrator charged with one count of possessing child pornography.
Patrick Vaile, 61, pleaded no contest at his plea hearing in Outagamie County court Thursday, July 30, but his sentencing is delayed until Friday, Aug. 7. Judge Vince Biskupic ordered attorneys to track down records explaining why Vaile was not charged for child porn allegedly found on his computer in 2001.
Questions arose during the hearing over whether in 2001 the porn was planted on Vaile’s computer by someone else while he worked for Shawano County. Biskupic said he needed an answer first in determining a fair sentence for Vaile.
As part of the plea deal, 15 of the original 16 counts against Vaile were dismissed. Vaile faces a minimum of three years in prison and a maximum of 25. The state has recommended 12 years in prison, five being behind bars and seven on extended supervision, plus registration as a sex offender.
Vaile served as Hortonville’s village administrator from 2011 to early 2015. On Feb. 10 he was arrested at home following a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Investigators found an estimated 2,200 images of nude children between a flash drive, a box of printouts in his bedroom and another box in the garage.
Some of the images seized showed children in abusive situations while others captured nudism, such as children taking baths.
The 16 counts for which Vaile was charged were associated with 16 tiles arranged into one image showing a prepubescent girl on a bed, bound and engaged in sexual acts with an adult male.
Prosecuting attorney Kyle Sargent recommended the state’s suggested 12-year sentence.
Sargent said although Vaile never went on to assault children, his child porn viewing habits date back to 2001, and that poses a danger to the public.
“It’s pretty clear this is a serious offense,” Sargent said.
Sargent said he was concerned that Vaile admitted to having an attraction toward a 12-year-old girl he saw at work. Sargent also said Vaile photographed a framed photo on a coworker’s desk of a daughter in a cheerleading outfit.
“I think this case goes beyond what the minimum mandatory calls for,” Sargent said.
Vaile’s past online search history shared at the trial included phrases such as “little girls naked” and “incest preteen gallery.”
Defense attorney Bradley Priebe agreed the state’s recommended 12 years was a fair sentence. He argued that Vaile consented to searches and admitted to all the allegations, and he didn’t blame his problems on mental health.
“I think he’s happy that [the arrest] happened because I don’t know where he would have stopped if he didn’t get caught,” Priebe said.
Vaile’s background
Vaile presented to the court his personal history. He said he was an unplanned child raised in a low-income Green Bay neighborhood inhabited by immigrants, migrant workers and prostitutes.
His mother suffered from regular depression due to losing a daughter six years before Vaile was born. He said his father made little money and physically abused Vaile’s mother.
“I’ve done a lot of soul-searching” with the help of a psychotherapist,” Vaile said, and through those sessions he recalled three memories of rape or molestation between the ages of 4 and 9 committed by non-family members.
As a teen Vaile said he was gifted at school and worked many hours at a grocery store. At age 13 his hands developed tremors related to Parkinson’s disease. During these years he also developed an obsessive-compulsive tendency of reciting a sequence of numbers before bedtime and saying a prayer that he consistently built upon.
Vaile graduated from Green Bay West High School in 1972 and received a bachelor’s degree from UW-Green Bay in 1976. He went on to earn a master’s in public administration.
He married in 1977 and divorced in 1989 while experiencing “manic episodes.” Vaile said in 1990 he met with a respectful psychiatrist who prescribed him medications and kept him under control.
A decade later that psychiatrist moved on. Vaile said his new psychiatrist was unhelpful and his manic episodes returned for one to two years. He found a better psychiatrist in 2002.
After years of living out of state, Vaile said he returned to Wisconsin in 2011 and took the village administrator job at Hortonville. He said he remained stressed, balancing more than 100 projects at once. He said the village continually added more to his plate without helping him out.
Hortonville Village President Traci Martens declined to comment on the matter to the Press Star on Friday, July 31.
Vaile said he was especially stressed with the workload after tornadoes came through Hortonville on Aug. 7, 2013.
“I got caught up with illegal pornography and I just couldn’t stop on my own,” Vaile said.
He said he has put hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars into recovery and sessions with counselors. He doesn’t see how going to prison will help his recovery.
“The road to recovery never stops, but I’ve made significant strides on that road,” Vaile said.
“I know what I did was wrong and I’m so sorry,” Vaile said.
Family speaks
Family members asked Biskupic for a lenient sentence for Vaile.
“He has changed and he needs help, and what is prison going to do for him?” one daughter asked.
“I do love him and it’s going to be hard without having him there. We’re a close family and this has hurt us,” she added.
The woman’s sister said the family has endured distasteful media reporting and cyberbullying throughout the ordeal.
“He lost his friends and now has a general fear of society,” she said.
With tears in her eyes, she said that Vaile is her father and not a monster.
“My father has nothing left and yet sits in front of you and asks you to let him try again,” she told Biskupic.
A sister-in-law said pornography is horrible for the victims abused and although she doesn’t understand it, Vaile is ill. She asked the judge for a minimum sentence.
“They need their dad,” the sister-in-law said.