By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — A “sexually violent” person placed on supervised release in a Town of Otter Creek house has been ordered by the court to remain at the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center for one year.
Jamie Lane Stephenson, who was committed under the state’s Chapter 980 law as sexually violent, appeared by video, along with his attorney Charles Glynn, for a hearing about revoking Stephenson’s supervised release in Dunn County Circuit Court December 2 before Judge Rod Smeltzer.
Devra Ayala, an attorney representing the state of Wisconsin, requested that Stephenson’s supervised release be revoked, according to online court records.
Glynn requested that the court order an alternative to revoking Stephenson’s supervised release.
Stephenson was placed on supervised release in December of 2018 in a house on 570th Street in the Town of Otter Creek.
According to a Dunn County Sheriff’s Department news release, Stephenson was convicted on one felony count of second degree sexual assault of a child while one felony count of third degree sexual assault of a child was dismissed in Dunn County in September of 2009. In Pierce County in May of 2009, sentence was withheld, and Stephenson pleaded guilty to a sex offender registry violation.
In Pierce County in August of 2004, two felony counts of second degree sexual assault of a child were dismissed but read into the record for sentencing, and in a separate case, Stephenson pleaded no contest and was found guilty of two misdemeanor counts of fourth degree sexual assault.
State law now requires Chapter 980 placements to be returned to their “home county.”
Wisconsin’s Chapter 980 is an involuntary civil commitment for offenders with a history of sexual offense, and the civil commitment occurs after they have served their time in prison.
When Chapter 980 sex offenders are ready to be released into the community, the county where they are to be released is required to form a committee to find housing. After housing is located, a circuit court judge approves the supervised release plan.
The Town of Otter Creek received permission from the court to intervene in the case for Stephenson’s supervised release. At issue was whether the house on 570th Street was fit for habitation, whether Dunn County’s 980 Committee gave adequate notice of the meetings to find a residence where Stephenson could be placed on supervised release and whether the location of the residence violated state law in regard to being too close to other nearby residences where minor children were living.
Judge Smeltzer determined that Stephenson’s placement was legal during a court hearing held in August of 2019.
Revocation
The State of Wisconsin filed a petition earlier this year to revoke Stephenson’s supervised release, and during a hearing October 7 in Dunn County Circuit Court, Stephenson told the court he would like to be transferred back to the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center.
Sand Ridge is located in Mauston.
Stephenson’s attorney asked that the matter be adjourned for 30 days, and following a two-hour court hearing December 2, Judge Smeltzer ordered Stephenson to remain at Sand Ridge for one year as an alternative to revoking the supervised release, ordered the Department of Health Services to develop a reintegration program and informed Stephenson he must maintain positive reports from the treatment facility to return to supervised release.
Long history
According to a Court of Appeals decision dated October 29, 2019, affirming Judge Smeltzer’s order denying Stephenson’s petition to be discharged from his commitment as a sexually violent person under Wisconsin Statute Chapter 980, Stephenson has a long history of committing sexual assaults.
In 2000, when Stephenson was 15 years old, he was charged with three counts of fourth-degree sexual assault. He was found to be delinquent on one of those counts while the remaining two counts were dismissed but read into the record for sentencing.
In 2001 or 2002 — one court record lists the incident as 2001 and another as 2002 — Stephenson was found to be delinquent in two separate cases of the sexual assault of a child. The victim was a classmate of Stephenson’s. The victim fought him off, and as she fled, he told her, “If you tell anyone, I’ll kill you.”
In 2004, Stephenson was charged with two counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child, and he ultimately pleaded guilty to two counts of fourth-degree sexual assault. According to a police report, Stephenson, who was 19 years old at the time, had sexual intercourse with two 15 year old girls. He received probation, but the probation was later revoked, and he was sentenced to six months in jail, according to the Court of Appeals decision.
In 2004 in Minnesota, Stephenson also was charged with sexual assault. The criminal complaint alleged he had intercourse with a 12-year-old girl. Stephenson was convicted on one count and was placed on probation for 25 years.
In 2007, when Stephenson was 22 years old, he was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. Stephenson chatted with the victim online and told the girl he was 17 years old.
A second charge in 2007 alleged that Stephenson had sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl.
Stephenson pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree sexual assault in the 2007 case, and a charge of third-degree sexual assault was dismissed. He was sentenced to two years of initial confinement and four years of extended supervision in 2009.
Chapter 980
In April of 2011, the State of Wisconsin filed a petition to commit Stephenson as a sexually violent person under Wisconsin Statute Chapter 980.
The circuit court, following a bench trial in June of 2012, found Stephenson qualified as a sexually violent person and ordered him committed to the Department of Health Services for institutional care in a secure mental health facility.
Stephenson has filed a petition for discharge from his Chapter 980 commitment every year since 2013, according to the Court of Appeals decision.
To be committed as a sexually violent person, the person must be convicted of a sexually violent offense, must have a mental disorder and must be dangerous to others because of a mental disorder that makes it more likely the person will engage in future acts of sexual violence.
According to a psychologist from the evaluation unit at Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Facility, where Stephenson had been confined since 2011, Stephenson suffered from two mental disorders: a personality disorder with antisocial and borderline features and an alcohol abuse disorder.
The psychologist notes that Stephenson had admitted during a group session he had “never committed a crime sober” and also noted that Stephenson’s history of alcohol abuse began at an early age in childhood and progressed to frequent intoxication over time.
The psychologist noted, too, that Stephenson had disclosed in a variety of legal documents and reports that his sexual misbehavior was related to his use of alcohol, according to the Court of Appeals decision.
All together, Wisconsin has nearly 25,000 registered sex offenders. About 6,200 of the sex offenders are currently incarcerated; another 6,000 of them are on supervision; and about 13,000 are on the sex offender registry but are not on supervision.
