Former Colfax man accused of assaulting young teenagers

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX — A 21-year-old former Colfax man now living in Elk Mound has been charged with three felony counts related to the sexual assault of a child.

Dylan M. Reidel made an initial appearance in Dunn County Circuit Court October 22 for three Class C felonies of the repeated first or second degree sexual assault of a child and second degree sexual assault of a child under 16 years of age.

Judge Rod Smeltzer set a cash bail of $3,000 for Reidel during an October 17 bail hearing.

At the October 22 hearing, Reidel’s address was changed in court records from 930th Street, Colfax, to an address in Elk Mound.

According to the criminal complaint, Colfax Police Chief William Anderson informed Elk Mound Police Chief Chad Weinberger that a 16-year-old girl had reported to Police Chief Anderson she had been sexually assaulted in Elk Mound about a year ago. The girl said she and Dylan Reidel had a relationship, and they had engaged in sexual intercourse for the first time in June of 2017 when she was 15 and he was 19 years old.

The girl completed a forensic interview with a Dunn County social worker in September of this year and said she had been at a house in Elk Mound with Reidel and he’d had sexual intercourse with her. Even though she told him “no,” he proceeded anyway. The girl said a short while later, Reidel again had sexual intercourse with her, but, “I didn’t say ‘no,’ so I guess the second time was consensual.”

The girl said she wanted to come forward with the information because she had heard Reidel would not “leave a girl alone” at Colfax High School.

The girl said she had called Reidel to say he should leave the other girl alone because she is only 14 and Reidel is 19 years old, according to the complaint.

Police Chief Anderson met with alleged Victim 2 who had previously reported Reidel was harassing her. The second girl said Reidel had tried to take her clothes off and had groped her. Reidel was only a few days shy of his 21st birthday, and girl had turned 14 only a few months earlier, according to the complaint.

The second girl said she’d had intercourse with Reidel a few months earlier and that she had just turned 14 years old at the time.

Police Chief Anderson and Police Chief Weinberger met with Reidel at the Elk Mound police department on October 15, the complaint states.

Reidel admitted he’d had sexual intercourse with alleged Victim 1 when he was 20 years old and she was 15. He said they had started a relationship two years ago when the girl would have been 14 years old.

Police Chief Anderson told Reidel there had been another complaint involving a juvenile this past summer.

Reidel named the second alleged victim and said after they’d had sexual intercourse a second time, he had found out she was 14 years old and had ended the relationship, according to the complaint.

All three charges — one count of the repeated sexual assault of a child and two counts of the sexual assault of a child under 16 years of age — are Class C felonies that carry a penalty for each count, upon conviction, of up to a $100,000 fine and/or a prison sentence of no more than 40 years.

A preliminary hearing in the case was scheduled in Dunn County Circuit Court October 30.