Girl revealed alleged abuse after school presentation
A jury found a Saukville man not guilty Nov. 9 of sexually assaulting his daughter in the Town of Lafayette about 15 years ago.
The man, 48, formerly of West Bend, is not being named to protect the identity of his daughter, who is now an adult but recalled being assaulted by her father when she was around kindergarten age.
After a six-day jury trial that ended Nov. 9, the verdict was not guilty on all counts – first-degree sexual assault of a child; incest with a child; and exposing genitals to a child.
The alleged abuse came up after his then-17-year-old daughter heard a presentation regarding sexual assault and safe dating Jan. 19, 2016, at the Alternative High School at Gateway Technical College in Elkhorn.
The girl sent a thank-you note to the presenter saying she was a victim but didn’t tell anyone until she was 11 years old, and by then her mom told counselors “that I was saying it for attention,” according to the complaint.
The alleged abuse took place between Jan. 1, 2001, and July 1, 2008, according to the criminal complaint, when the girl was 2 to 10 years old. The girl disclosed the abuse in January 2016, and it was investigated in February 2016.
In the thank-you note the girl wrote to the Alternative High School presenter in January 2016, she referred to revealing the abuse to her mother when she was 11 years old and in fifth grade, according to the criminal complaint, which would have been around 2009.
The girl said by the time she was turning 13 years old and was in sixth grade – around 2010 – she was doing drugs, stealing her mom’s cigarettes and self-harming.
When interviewed in February 2016, the girl’s mother said the father had visitation rights with the girl and her brother between 2003 and 2008 during the times that the man was not incarcerated, according to the complaint. He had no visitation after 2008.
According to the criminal complaint, the girl estimated she was kindergarten age or younger – around 2003 or earlier – when her father would take baths with her at their Town of Lafayette home during which he allegedly would sexually assault her. She relayed another incident that happened in third grade; and her brother recalled incidents from when his sister was 6 or 7 years old, according to the complaint.
Sheriff’s Office records show the department investigated a report in 2005 from girl’s mother who said the man raped her, according to the complaint.
