Former Colfax man sentenced to 5 years probation and 1 year in jail for sexual assault
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — A 21-year-old former Colfax man now living in Elk Mound who pleaded guilty to the repeated sexual assault of a teenager has been sentenced to one year in the county jail and five years of probation.
Dylan M. Reidel appeared in Dunn County Circuit Court with his attorney, Kerry Kelm, for a sentencing hearing July 18 before Judge Rod W. Smeltzer.
Reidel pleaded guilty in April to the repeated sexual assault of a child with at least three incidents of first or second degree sexual assault as part of a plea deal in which Judge Smeltzer dismissed two other felony counts of the second degree sexual assault of a child.
During the July 18 hearing, Judge Smeltzer withheld sentencing, was placing Reidel on five years of probation, and as a condition of probation, ordered Reidel to serve one year in the county jail.
Judge Smeltzer also said Reidel could have Huber privileges for work-release after serving two months, although he would be allowed Huber privileges immediately for sex offender treatment.
In addition, Reidel was ordered to have no contact with juvenile females without approval from the Department of Corrections and was ordered to have no contact with two individuals who are currently 17 years old and 15 years old.
Reidel must obtain and maintain employment, cooperate with and complete a sex offender assessment and follow through with treatment, and he must also register as a sex offender.
Judge Smeltzer granted Reidel 277 days of credit for time served if the plea agreement is revoked.
During the course of his sentence, because Reidel has been convicted of a felony, he cannot vote in any election, and he cannot possess a firearm.
Reidel also was ordered by the court to pay $268 in court costs and a $250 DNA surcharge.
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 a year earlier. 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 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.
Police Chief Anderson met with the second victim 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 the 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, the complaint states.