August 23, 2019 4am
(WGTD)---We have an update on the prostitution charges brought against former Racine County Register of Deeds---Tyson Fettes---in connection with a sex-trafficking operation in Rockford. According to a criminal complaint obtained by the Racine Journal Times---sometime between March 9 and May 23, Fettes “knowingly engaged in an act of sexual penetration” with two different prostitutes at one or two City of Rockford lingerie businesses. According to the newspaper---the sexual acts netted Fettes the two felony charges of patronizing a prostitute--- and---the offer of money in exchange for sexual acts produced the two misdemeanor charges of soliciting a sexual act. Patronizing a prostitute is a Class 4 felony---in Illinois---punishable with one to three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. The maximum sentence for soliciting a sexual act in Illinois---which is a Class A misdemeanor---is up to one year in the Winnebago County Jail. The 33-year-old Fettes reportedly turned himself in this week and was booked into the Winnebago County Jail and was then released on bond.
Fettes was appointed to the Register of Deeds position in Racine by Governor Scott Walker in 2011 after Jim Ladwig stepped down from the position following his election as county executive. Fettes was then elected and re-elected in his right in 2012 and 2016. Fettes left that position just this past April to become market president for the Community State bank in Burlington---his hometown. A check yesterday showed that his name is no longer on the bank’s website.
He is also a supervisor on the Burlington Town Board. (Photo is Fettes' booking photo obtained by the Racine Journal Times)
