A Rhinelander woman has a big incentive to follow the rules or face a lengthy prison term.
46 year old Carrie Steinmetz of Rhinelander was sentenced late Tuesday in Oneida County Circuit Court. She faced charges of human trafficking and child enticement felonies and other charges. Steinmetz and three other men were arrested in May after one of the men allegedly brought a 16 year old girl to Rhinelander to act as a prostitute.
Judge Michael Bloom withheld a prison sentence and placed Steinmetz on probation for three years on the sex with an underage child charge. On the child enticement charge, Judge Bloom deferred judgment on that charge for three years, meaning if Steinmetz followed all the court orders while on probation she would serve no prison time. She was ordered to serve 60 more days in the Oneida county jail. She has been in local jail 141 days. Another drug charge was also factored in and will run along with the probation.
Should she violate her conditions of probation, she faces the potential of many years in prison.
Two other men, Michael Johnson of Manawa and Thomas Franz of Rhinelander, will be in court soon to face related charges in the case.
