Local activist, member of La Crosse’s Criminal Justice Management Council, cited for “prostitution prohibited”

A La Crosse community activist has been cited for “prostitution prohibited.” 

No criminal charges, however, were filed against Keonte Turner, who denied the allegations.

Turner’s involvement appears to be part of a larger case, where it’s described in the reports as someone being extorted and threatened for tens of thousands of dollars from the cartel. 

There are 45 pages of La Crosse Police Department reports into the investigation, in which a few parts involve Turner accessing a Kwik Trip ATM, saying he gave money to a Sparta stripper for a babysitter but couldn’t remember their name or any contact information, and denying going to a website called “Skip the game” or paying for sex. 

Turner ran for city council this past spring and is part of the county’s Criminal Justice Management Council (CJMC). He was formerly a La Crosse School Board member and works for the La Crosse Area Family YMCA.

Turner’s attorney, in a statement late Friday, said in part, “An independent prosecutor has already reviewed the relevant reports, and determined that no criminal charges will be filed against Mr. Turner.

“More troubling is the fact that members of the La Crosse Police Department approached the media with allegations that it knew would not be criminally charged, with the sole apparent goal was to damage the reputation of a public figure who had been critical of department practices and policies. Public confidence in law enforcement has diminished significantly in recent years, and releasing details of an unrelated, and ongoing, fraud investigation to damage a critic does not help to rehabilitate public trust in this department.”

Tom Walsh, who retired from the La Crosse Police Department in December, tweeted multiple times May 19 about a member of the CJMC “soliciting prostitution.”

Parts of multiple incident reports from the La Crosse Police Department state that Turner came in for an interview and was given a brief description of a larger investigation that has to do with another subject being scammed out of, what looks like $50,000. They said the cartel threatened this person being scammed, and their family if they didn’t continue sending money. That person then apparently turned to prostitution “to raise more money to send to the scammer.”

Part of the statement from the person being scammed says they communicated with the cell phone number affiliated with Turner, about location and prices for services discussed. 

Photographs were exchanged over text and they met at a La Crosse restaurant, before heading together to a gas station ATM. After that, the report states they went to the end of an unlit, dead end street, possibly 28th Street South.

The person said they arranged to pay $100 for a “QV” (quick visit) but sex lasted longer and they should have been paid $250.

The report also states the investigation was turned over to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation due to Turner’s standing on the “Board of Education and the La Crosse County Justice Management Council.”