County man found guilty of criminal endangerment

A Lake County man was found guilty of a felony stemming from a November 2016 incident.

Jessie Walking Eagle appeared before Judge James A. Manley on Wednesday, Sept. 13, where he was handed a three-year deferred sentence.

According to court documents, in November 2016, Walking Eagle recorded himself engaged in sexual relations with a victim identified as Jane Doe.

He sent the video to a male friend of the victim electronically.

Documents state that Walking Eagle “threatened” to send the video to other third parties.

On Nov. 30, upon learning that a statement was made to law enforcement by the victim, Walking Eagle messaged her on social media, requesting her to withhold information and not proceed further.

Messages showed that Walking Eagle knew that the video could be considered child pornography and could possibly be a felony for making and sending the video, according to court documents.

Begging her to stop working with law enforcement, Walking Eagle accused the victim of ruining his life if she continued to cooperate.

Sentencing for Robert Berstch will be Nov. 8, after he was found guilty of one count of sexual intercouse without consent and one count of indecent exposure, both felonies.

Each felony is punishable by $50,000 maximum fines and 100 years maximum incarceration.

Court documents state that on Jan. 4, 2017, a Lake County Sheriff’s Office detective interviewed a then-13-year-old about an incident that occurred in Lake County five years prior.

Bertsch was working at the child’s residence, building a playhouse. The child told the detective that when the child’s parents were at work, the Bertsch took off the child’s clothes, touching them inappropriately and making the child touch him inappropriately.

The child also said that Bertsch made them watch pornography on a laptop.

The detective spoke with the parents and they confirmed that Bertsch did build a playhousefor them, but the child refused to play in it.

They also shared that the child began self-inflicting wounds.