Former Colfax man found guilty of child sexual assault

By LeAnn R. Ralph

MENOMONIE — A 67-year-old former Colfax man now living in Knapp has been found guilty of first degree child sexual assault while other charges have been dismissed but will be read into the record for sentencing.

Elmer C. Shilts Jr. appeared in Dunn County Circuit Court with his attorney, Kerry A. Kelm, June 2 to plead no contest before Judge Rod Smeltzer to one Class B felony of the first degree sexual assault of a child.

Judge Smeltzer accepted Shilts’s plea of no contest and found him guilty.

Shilts previously had been scheduled to go to trial later this month.

Shilts originally had been charged with multiple felony counts of first degree sexual assault of a child, the repeated sexual assault of a child, and exposing genitals to a child.

According to the criminal complaint, the alleged assaults took place at the Colfax Fairgrounds, an apartment building in Colfax and in a parked car in Menomonie.

In the first case, the alleged victim was seven years old at the time, and in the second case, the alleged victim was between the ages of five and seven at the time.

According to the criminal complaint, during interviews regarding the first case with a social worker, former Colfax Police Chief Pete Gehring and an officer with the Menomonie police department, Shilts alternated between denying that anything had happened, that it was not true and he would “deny it until the day he died” and saying he could not remember if anything had happened, but if something did happen, he was sorry — and admitting that during one incident he had asked the girl if he could touch her vagina and then had masturbated.

According to online court records, during an August of 2015 court hearing, Judge Smeltzer granted a continuance to allow time for evaluation of Shilts because there were concerns about his mental health.

During a court hearing in June of 2016, Shilts’s attorney filed a motion to reschedule further court proceedings until in the fall partially because of concerns about the defendant’s health and that he was in the middle of chemo therapy.

During a competency hearing in March, witnesses for the prosecution found that Shilts was competent to stand trial while witnesses for the defense found that Shilts was not competent.

After listening to testimony, Judge Smeltzer found that Shilts was competent and ordered that the trial dates on the court calendar for April be changed to a June jury trial.

Judge Smeltzer also advised that the prosecution and defense should meet and try to settle the matter before the trial dates.

In the second case, Shilts was alleged to have assaulted a child between May of 2012 and April of 2014 in the Village of Colfax.

The assaults in the first case were alleged to have occurred in June and September of 2012 and in June of 2013.

According to the criminal complaint, in the second case, Colfax Police Chief William Anderson received a written statement from the child’s mother in February of 2015.

During the June 2 plea hearing, Judge Smeltzer ordered a pre-sentence investigation and that the report be filed with the court by August 4.

Shilts is scheduled to appear in Dunn County Circuit Court August 22 for a sentencing hearing.