KENOSHA, Wis. — A 38-year-old Kenosha man was sentenced Friday to 40 years of initial confinement in state prison for a series of disturbing crimes involving the sexual abuse and exploitation of children.

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Derrick Darnell Curtis appeared in Kenosha County Circuit Court on May 2, where Judge Anthony Milisauskas handed down the sentence following Curtis’s guilty pleas to four charges in case 24CF483: repeated sexual assault of a child, sexual exploitation of a child (filming), causing mental harm to a child, and battery.

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Curtis, who appeared in custody with defense attorney Zebulon Patek, was also sentenced in a separate case—24CF632—for failing to register as a sex offender. He received one year in the Kenosha County Jail with credit for 372 days served.

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According to court records and a criminal complaint, Curtis sexually abused the children of a woman he was dating between October 2023 and March 2024. At the time, Curtis was a convicted sex offender due to prior convictions in Illinois and had failed to register his new Wisconsin address, as required by law.

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At sentencing, Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Rosa Delgado read victim impact statements from three individuals and emphasized the gravity of the crimes and Curtis’s prior record.

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“This sends a clear and unmistakable message to those who sexually abuse children: your crimes will not be tolerated in this community,” Delgado told the court. “The defendant is a convicted sex offender—previously found guilty of sexual assault in 2008. He targeted a single mother of three young children while non-compliant with sex offender registry requirements and moved into their home without ever reporting his residence to Wisconsin authorities.”

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Curtis’s prison sentence in case 24CF483 includes:

• Count 1 (Repeated Sexual Assault of a Child): 20 years initial confinement, 15 years extended supervision
• Count 3 (Sexual Exploitation of a Child – Filming): 20 years initial confinement, 20 years extended supervision (consecutive to Count 1)
• Count 6 (Causing Mental Harm to a Child): 3 years initial confinement, 3 years extended supervision (concurrent)
• Count 9 (Battery): 3 years initial confinement, 3 years extended supervision (concurrent)

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Counts 2 (causing mental harm to a second child), 4 and 5 (first-degree sexual assault of a child under 13), 7 (strangulation and suffocation), and 8 (felony intimidation of a victim) were dismissed and read in as part of the State’s motion for sentencing purposes.

Curtis was ordered to provide a DNA sample and pay the associated surcharge. He is ineligible for both the Challenge Incarceration Program and the Substance Abuse Program due to the severity of his offenses.

Delgado praised the courage of the young victims who spoke out. “Our children are brave. They are standing up and speaking out against their abusers,” she said. “What is done in the darkness will be brought into the light, and justice will be served. We will hold perpetrators fully accountable.”

Curtis remains in custody and will be transferred to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections to begin serving his sentence.

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