Deputy Kite charged with sex crimes, makes brief appearance in court

RACINE — The law enforcement officer facing allegations of lewd conduct and possession of child pornography made a brief appearance on Thursday to tell the court he had not yet found an attorney.

Preston Kite, 37, was charged with possession of child pornography, five counts of child sexual exploitation, lewd and lascivious behavior/exposure, and disorderly conduct.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Thursday in Racine County Circuit Court, but the case cannot proceed until the defendant has legal counsel.

He told Judge Timothy Boyle that his family was working to find him an attorney.

Kite is on unpaid administrative leave pending termination from the Racine County Sheriff’s Office.

A status hearing was scheduled for 9 a.m. on March 7.

Allegations against Kite

1. Hooking up

Kite is facing two allegations. The first is that he engaged in lewd conduct while on duty. During the investigation into that allegation, investigators allegedly discovered videos on his phone containing child pornography.

The investigation into Kite’s conduct began when a 38-year-old man reported seeing a law enforcement officer, in full uniform, fondling himself in the bathroom of the Petro Station, 717 S. Sylvania Ave.

The man was traveling through Racine County at the time and had stopped for a break.

An investigation into the interaction revealed both men were on the phone app Sniffies, which was described as a “gay and curious map-based location and communication app” that allows users to see who else in the area is using the app. The user can tap on a name and start a conversation with those who are nearby.

The man told investigators he received a message on Sniffies to come into the Petro bathroom. He said was not expecting anything sexual. He described himself as curious.

The man went into the bathroom and as he was washing his hands, a stall door opened, and he could see a law enforcement officer in full uniform allegedly fondling himself. The man alleged the deputy told him not to be scared and to come into the stall. The man asked, “Why are you doing this?” and left. In the parking lot, he took a picture of the squad car parked there.

The squad car was assigned to Kite, who was on duty.

Kite was interviewed, but he claimed things did not happen the way the accuser stated, according to the criminal complaint. The defendant told investigators he stopped at Petro’s to get a drink. He received a message on Sniffies stating someone was in the bathroom fondling himself.

Kite explained Petro’s has reflective walls, a fact he learned on the Sniffies app, which allows someone in an adjacent stall to peek through and see the reflection of the person fondling themselves.

He did that because he was trying to hide the fact he was a cop. He claimed the individual looked through a space and saw he was a cop, became scared and left. Kite claimed he tried to message the person and say, “I’m sorry,” but he was already blocked, he told police.

Kite reiterated he did not expose himself or fondle himself. “I was just watching. That sounds terrible,” he reportedly told investigators.

2. Possession of child pornography, child sexual exploitation

As part of the investigation, investigators took Kite’s phone. The phone had a curious number of large videos on it.

According to the criminal complaint, the videos appeared to have been taken surreptitiously in bathrooms.

Further investigation revealed child pornography. According to the criminal complaint, the defendant allegedly used emojis showing a slice of cheese pizza and a baby bottle when requesting videos. The cheese pizza (CP) was for child porn, and the baby bottle indicated a preference for young subjects.