Child sex crimes, former Marquette student-athlete charged

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MILWAUKEE - A former Marquette University student-athlete is accused of child sex crimes in northern Wisconsin.

In court:

Court records show 22-year-old William Waterstradt was charged Tuesday with a dozen felonies, including second-degree sexual assault of a child. 

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Waterstradt is being held in the Langlade County Jail on $500,000 bond. Langlade County is roughly 80 miles northwest of Green Bay.

The backstory:

A criminal complaint identified the victim as a 13-year-old girl in Langlade County. The victim said she had been communicating with Waterstradt via Snapchat, but believed he was a 17-year-old with a different name. They communicated for months, those conversations sexual in nature, from July until late October 2025. 

Following a forensic interview with the victim, the complaint said detectives worked on warrants and identified accounts associated with Waterstradt. They determined the victim was not the only person to whom he had provided a false identity, and there were eight different Snapchat accounts in which he claimed to be 16 or 17 years old.

The complaint also said detectives reviewed messages between Waterstradt and the victim in which he claimed to be 17 years old, acknowledged the victim was 13 years old, and described having had sexual intercourse with the victim.

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What they're saying:

As of Saturday afternoon, Jan. 17, Marquette's website showed Waterstradt was a senior hurdler on the track-and-field team. He last competed in a track meet in December. A statement from the university said he is no longer enrolled.

Waterstradt's attorney, Jonathan LaVoy, said in a statement:

"My firm was recently retained to represent William by the Waterstradt family.  I am in the process of investigating the allegations. William is senior at Marquette University and is a track and field athlete and he has no prior record or police contacts. He comes from a good family who are devastated by these allegations. William and his family are taking these allegations seriously and I am in the process of obtaining police reports and other evidence. William is presumed innocent and I would ask that the public withhold judgement until his case is resolved through the court process."