Public meeting scheduled Monday to discuss release of violent sex offender

Editor’s note: This story was originally published on Sept. 13.

By Brandi Makuski

A public notification meeting has been scheduled to alert the community about the upcoming release of one violent sex offender.

Sheriff Mike Lukas has arranged the community meeting for 6 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 18 at the town hall in Eau Pleine. The building is located at 3191 State Hwy. 34 in Eau Pleine.

James P. Poblitz, 40, and 81-year-old Charles G. Anderson are scheduled to be released back into the community after being involuntarily committed to a secure treatment facility following their respective prison sentences. Both are classified as high-risk, sexually violent offenders under Chapter 980.

Poblitz was convicted in 2022 of second-degree sexual assault of a child after raping two girls who were 13 and 14 at the time of the assault. Anderson was convicted in Wisconsin twice in 1992 and one in 1997 of child sex assault and child enticement but has numerous convictions in California and Arizona stemming back to 1971.

Lukas said Anderson will live in a state-monitored home at 2873 County Rd. O in Junction City sometime before Oct. 5.

Sheriff Mike Lukas said following an emergency hearing on Sept. 18, Poblitz will not be living in the same home as previously thought. One of Poblitz’s victims recently notified the Department of Health Services that the state-run home was close to her own.

Lukas said another community notification meeting will be held for Poblitz in November.

Both men are required to register as lifetime sex offenders and are subject to electronic and GPS monitoring.

The meeting will include a presentation with representatives from the Portage County Sheriff’s Office, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, the Wisconsin Department of Family Services, and the Wisconsin Sex Offender Registry Program.

The public is encouraged to attend.