Colfax man sentenced to five years in prison, 10 years extended supervision for child sexual assault
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by LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — A 22-year-Colfax man has been sentenced to five years of initial confinement and 10 years of extended supervision on one felony count of first degree sexual assault of a child under the age of 13.
Brady J. Agema appeared with his attorney, Harry Hertel, before Judge James Peterson for a sentencing hearing June 12.
Agema initially was charged with three Class B felony counts of first degree sexual assault/sexual contact with person under the age of 13; two Class D felony counts of possessing child pornography; and one misdemeanor count of resisting or obstructing an officer.
At a November of 2022 plea hearing, Agema pleaded “no contest” to one felony count of the first degree sexual assault of a child, according to online court records.
Judge Peterson accepted Agema’s plea, found him guilty, and ordered the other counts dismissed but read into the record for sentencing.
During the June 12 sentencing hearing, prosecuting attorney Megan Kelly asked the court for three years of initial confinement and 10 years of extended supervision.
Hertel asked the court to sentence Agema to six years and withhold the sentence or impose and stay the sentence with six increments of 60 days each in jail.
Judge Peterson noted that the maximum sentence for a Class B felony is up to 60 years in prison.
The judge ordered Agema to serve five years of initial confinement with 10 years of extended supervision; to be evaluated for programming, including sex offender programming; and to have no possession or consumption of alcohol.
Judge Peterson also ordered Agema to not enter any bars, taverns or liquor stores or any establishment where the primary purpose is the sale of alcohol and not to be in the presence or possession of any drug paraphernalia.
In addition, the judge ordered Agema to have no contact with one individual who is currently 15 years old and and other individual with an unknown date of birth who is under the age of 18.
Agema also is ordered to have no contact with any juvenile under the age of 18 with the exception of his own children, and he must register as a sex offender.
During a preliminary hearing in September of 2021, Rebecca Merryfield, an investigator with the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department, testified that she had reviewed a child forensic interview with one of the victims who had described three incidents of sexual intercourse with Agema.
When asked, Agema said he’d had no sexual contact with the victim, Merryfield said.
The photographs are one of a juvenile facing away from the camera and one in which the subject of the photo is possibly getting dressed, she said.
The photographs were located on Agema’s cell phone, Merryfield testified.
Hertel asked how Merryfield had determined the age of the person in the photographs, and Merryfield said she had relied on information from the first victim and also by talking to a family member of the second victim.
Hertel also asked if the subject in the photograph had been posing, and while the assistant district attorney had objected on the basis of speculation, Judge Peterson over-ruled the objection.
Merryfield said she could not determine, by looking at the photograph, whether the subject knew she was being photographed and could not determine if it was a posed photo.
Judge Peterson set bail for Agema at $5,000 cash in August of 2021, and Agema posted bail several day later.
A previous case with the same charges involving the same victims was dismissed because of a technicality, and the district attorney’s office immediately refiled the case.
