Bloomer man charged with sexual assault of a child in Colfax pleads guilty
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — A Bloomer man charged with two felony counts of the repeated sexual assault of the same child in the Village of Colfax has pleaded guilty in Dunn County Circuit Court.
Timothy L. Klich, age 40, appeared in court February 21, along with his attorney Laura Megan Coss, for a plea hearing before Judge James Peterson.
Klich originally was charged with two Class B felonies of first degree sexual assault having sexual contact or sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 13.
Klich pleaded guilty to two Class C felony counts of second degree sexual assault of a child.
Dunn County District Attorney Andrea Nodolf told the court that the plea deal involved Klich pleading guilty to the two felony counts and that he would serve 360 days in jail on each count, consecutively, with Huber privileges after 48 hours, according to on-line court records.
Judge Peterson accepted the plea and found Klich guilty.
The court ordered a pre-sentence investigation be completed by May 16.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 30.
A three-day trial was scheduled in March of 2025, and following the plea hearing, Judge Peterson removed the jury trial from the court calendar.
A plea agreement in Wisconsin is between the defendant and the prosecutor, but a judge is not bound by the plea agreement and can impose whatever sentence the judge believes is appropriate.
During a motion hearing in September of 2024, Judge Peterson said he had reviewed the video of a child 7 1/2 years old at the time of the interview, and the video appeared to be accurate, according to on-line court records.
The judge also reviewed the video of another child who was nine years old at the time, and that video also appeared to be accurate. A second video of the same child with some sound distortion appeared to be accurate as well, Judge Peterson said.
Bail was set at $1,000 cash in February of 2023, and Klich posted bail a day later.
According to the criminal complaint, during a forensic interview at the Child Advocacy Center in Eau Claire, one of the alleged victims said she was six years old when Klich had sexually assaulted the girl with his hand. The girl also said that one time, Klich had taken her hand and “had me touch his private.”
When asked how many times the touching had occurred, the girl said it was more than one time, but she did not know how many times — “either in the ones or the teens.”
The criminal complaint states that the victim was between five years old and seven years old at the time of the alleged assaults.
The repeated sexual assault of a child under the age of 13 is a Class B felony that, upon conviction, carries a possible penalty of up to 60 years in prison.
Second degree sexual assault of a child is a Class C felony that, upon conviction, carries a possible penalty of a fine of up to $100,000 and/or up to 40 years in prison.
