Anthony Stancl, 19, was sentenced to fifteen years in prison and another thirteen years of extended supervision today for using Facebook to coerce his classmates at New Berlin Eisenhower High School into sexual acts with him in 2008.Stancl posed as a girl on Facebook and used his female persona’s wiles to convince boys at his school to send him naked pictures of themselves. Once Stancl had the damning pictures he used them to blackmail at least seven boys between the ages of fifteen and seventeen into performing sex acts on him. The threat of exposing the pictures to the rest of the school proved potent enough to drive his victims to do things that has left some of them hospitalized for suicidal thoughts.
Stancl apologized in open court to his victims and their families, to the school district and to his own family, particularly his brother and sister who still have to attend New Berlin, which Stancl called a hostile environment. District Attorney Brad Schimel had asked for substantial prison time without specifying an amount of time. Stancl’s attorney, Craig Kuhary, suggested five years in prison and ten years of supervision. He argued that Stancl’s crimes were driven by his struggle with his homosexuality. Stancl was particularly tormented after he was unwillingly outed at school by an older boy with whom he had a sexual relationship.
The judge that sentenced Stancl, Waukesha County Circuit Judge J. Mac Davis, says he imposed a harsh sentence because Stancl had shown that he was manipulative, deeply narcissistic and potentially dangerous. “I am afraid of what he can and might do,” Davis said.
