Pewaukee Planet Fitness child sexual exploitation, ex-employee guilty

article

Maurice King

PEWAUKEE, Wis. - A Waukesha County jury found a former Planet Fitness employee guilty of child sexual exploitation, the crime in question having taken place at the gym in 2024.

Jury's verdict

In Court:

Court records show 42-year-old Maurice King was convicted of child sexual exploitation and acquitted of child enticement. Two other child sex crimes were dismissed with prejudice, meaning they cannot be refiled.

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Prosecutors originally charged King with a different set of child sex crimes than those that were brought to trial.

King is scheduled to be sentenced in December.

Investigation

The backstory:

Investigators said the crimes King was accused of committing happened at the Planet Fitness on Capitol Drive in the village of Pewaukee. 

Court filings said the victim, who was 16 years old at the time, told police she left work and walked over to the gym at around 1 a.m. on July 19, 2024. Police said an employee, identified as King, engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with the victim.

Less than a month later, police pulled over King for turning into the wrong lane on Capitol Drive. A criminal complaint said, before police gave him any information about why he was under arrest, King said, "I think I know what this is about" and described a "weird interaction" he had with a teenager weeks earlier. 

King told police he was trying to help the victim because she had nowhere else to go and denied any sexual contact with the victim. But police said King did admit to having a sexually explicit video of him and his wife saved on his cellphone. Police said King denied showing the victim the video.