Former Boyceville resident pleads not guilty to child assault

By LeAnn R. Ralph

MENOMONIE —  A 39-year-old former Boyceville resident charged with multiple felony counts related to the sexual assault of children has pleaded not guilty in Dunn County Circuit Court.

Ted Lopez appeared before Judge Rod Smeltzer November 7 and entered a plea of “not guilty” to all counts.

Lopez faces seven felony charges: repeated sexual assault of the same child (at least three violations of first degree sexual assault); causing mental harm to a child; child sexual exploitation; causing a child less than 13 to view or listen to sexual activity; child enticement; exposing a child to harmful material; and possession of child pornography.

In a separate Dunn County case, Lopez is charged with one count of the repeated sexual assault of the same child (with at least three violations of first degree sexual assault) for which he posted a $10,000 cash bail July 8.

Bail for Lopez was previously set at $100,000 for one case of alleged child sexual assault and at $10,000 for a separate case of child sexual assault.

During an October 13 court hearing, Lopez’s attorney, Charles S. Huff, requested that Judge Smeltzer reduce the bail to $50,000.

Lopez is a Dunn County resident and cannot come up with $100,000 cash, Huff said.

Judge Smeltzer agreed to reduce the bail for Lopez from $100,000 cash to $50,000 cash.

At the November 7 court hearing, Huff requested that the bail amount be reduced again and said Lopez’s parents had been able to raise $25,000.

The prosecuting attorney, Dunn County Assistant District Attorney Holly Wood-Webster, objected to modifying the bail.

Judge Smeltzer denied the request to reduce bail.

According to the criminal complaint in the most recent of the two cases, between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2014, Lopez allegedly committed repeated sexual assault involving the same child, Victim #2, in the Village of Boyceville.

On each of the seven felony counts, Lopez is charged as a repeat offender.

Lopez was convicted of felony possession of marijuana in Barron County in January of 2014 and qualifies as a repeat offender under Wisconsin’s habitual criminality section of the state statutes.

Boyceville Police Chief Greg Lamkin reported the child’s mother came to him in July to say her son had been sexually abused by Lopez several years ago and that the assaults occurred when he spent the night with another child, who is the alleged victim in the first of the two cases.

Lopez is scheduled for another court hearing in Dunn County January 3.