Trial scheduled for Boyceville man accused of not properly registering as a sex offender
By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — A one-day jury trial has been scheduled in Dunn County Circuit Court for a 49-year-old Boyceville man accused of failing to properly register as a sex offender.
Chris D. Herdahl appeared with his attorney, Roger M. Hillestad, before Judge James Peterson March 12 for a pre-trial conference.
Hillestad told the court that his client had not reached a plea agreement with the Dunn County District Attorney’s office.
Hillestad indicated he also may file a motion with the court and requested a trial be scheduled.
According to the criminal complaint, Herdahl was convicted of the second degree sexual assault of a child on February 28, 1995. The offense requires lifetime registration as a sex offender.
Herdahl is required to notify the Wisconsin Department Of Corrections sex offender registry program within ten days if he has a change in residence, employment, schooling or Internet identifiers.
On each registration and confirmation letter sent out, the first page outlines laws pertaining to the Wisconsin Sex Offender Registry, and the person is required to sign the letter and to return it. Herdahl’s last signed and returned letter was mailed out on September 14, 2016, and returned on September 17, 2016, the complaint notes.
On May 5, 2017, a specialist with the Department of Corrections, along with the United States Marshall’s office and the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department attempted to make a residence verification on Herdahl’s reported address at 918 Center Street in Boyceville.
No one was at the address, and the Department of Corrections specialist left a sealed envelop asking Herdahl to make contact by May 15, according to the complaint.
The sex offender registry received a telephone call from the owner of Elk Point Resort May 30, 2017, to say Herdahl had been at her campground recently but was no longer there and would not be allowed to return.
Since May 8, 2017, Herdahl had failed to contact the Wisconsin Sex Offender Registry to report a change of address. The last reported address was on 618th Street, Colfax, at the Elk Point Resort, according to the complaint.
The one-day jury trial for the sex offender registry violation is scheduled for later in May.
In a separate case in Dunn County, Herdahl is charged with two felony counts of bail jumping and one misdemeanor count of possessing drug paraphernalia, and in yet another case, he is charged with felony possession of methamphetamine, felony manufacturing and delivering methamphetamine and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
A jury trial is scheduled in July on the drug charges.