Community notification meeting Monday
By Scott Bellile
A registered sex offender will move to the town of Deer Creek next week, the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday, June 6.
A community notification meeting to discuss the man’s history and placement will be held Monday, June 10, at 6 p.m. at Deer Creek Town Hall, W9698 County Highway F.
Henry F. Pocan, 61, will reside at W10418 State Highway 76, located a fifth-mile east of County Highway D.
Pocan currently resides at a supervised living facility in Mauston in Juneau County. He will begin his supervised release in Deer Creek by Friday, June 14.
Pocan’s criminal history dates back to 1976, according to the sheriff’s office.
He was convicted of second-degree sexual assault in Outagamie County in 1982 after he broke into an elderly woman’s home and sexually assaulted her during a burglary.
In 2002, a petition was filed and he was committed to a secured treatment facility and classified as a sexually violent person.
Pocan’s residence on State 76 is different from another home at W9442 Schweitzer Road, Deer Creek, that began housing sex offenders last year.
Michael R. Schaar and Aristole Farmer continue to reside at that address.
Another sex offender who originally lived with Schaar on Schweitzer Road, Jerome C. Litscher, moved to Appleton last year prior to Farmer’s arrival.
At a packed community notification meeting last June, Deer Creek residents voiced opposition to the state Department of Health Services placing Schaar and Litscher in their community, expressing concerns for their children’s safety and questioning why the town did not get a say in the matter.
When Farmer moved in to the same house in November 2018, the sheriff’s office sent notices to the news media, but did not hold a community notification meeting.
Outagamie County Sheriff’s Sgt. Shawn Oligney said at the time a news release was sufficient notice because the community had already been informed at the June 2018 meeting that the Schweitzer Road residence would house sex offenders.