By Jim Piwowarczyk & Jessica McBride
FOND DU LAC COUNTY, Wis. – The Fond du Lac County arrest of a man who entered the country illegally in a child sexual assault case shows that child sex trafficking doesn’t just occur in big cities and highlights the “ongoing dangers of Biden and the Democrat Party’s open border policies,” a Republican state representative says.
Representative Jerry O’Connor (R-Fond du Lac) released the following statement after the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrest and revealed that the suspect, whose real name is not clear, had crossed into the country illegally over the U.S.-Mexico border.
“On Sunday afternoon, a member of the FDL community called the FDL County Sheriff’s Department to report that a 12-year-old girl had come to their door asking for help after she escaped a man who had purchased her from her mother, bound and blindfolded her before attempting to sexually assault her,” O’Connor wrote in a news release. “Miraculously, the girl was able to fight back and escape this horrific situation to find help. On Monday, FDL Sheriff’s deputies arrested the child’s mother and the child’s male attacker.”
“This horrific situation highlights the fact that child sex trafficking does not just occur in big cities but also in small towns right here in Wisconsin. As Chair of the Human Trafficking Task Force, we investigated horrific situations like this across Wisconsin. We worked to provide law enforcement and non-profit organizations with the tools they need to end the problem of human trafficking in our communities,” he noted.
“This tragic situation also highlights the ongoing dangers of Biden and the Democrat Party’s open border policies. The male suspect had illegally immigrated to the U.S. from Nicaragua,” he wrote. “He was detained by the U.S. Border Patrol in 2021 only to be released under Biden’s ‘catch-and-release’ open borders policy. Until this administration gets serious about upholding the law and securing our border, situations like this are likely to happen with increasing frequency.”
Continued O’Connor, “Thank you to Sheriff Waldschmidt and the FDL County Sheriff’s Department for their efforts to help this young girl and combat child sex trafficking in our community.”
In a previous release, the Fond du Lac County Sheriff said the girl made a dramatic escape in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, from the vehicle of a suspect who entered the United States illegally from Mexico three years ago and who was trying to sexually assault her.
The girl “had just fled from a vehicle in the area where an adult male had bound and blindfolded her and was attempting to assault her,” Fond du Lac County Sheriff Ryan F. Waldschmidt said in a news release. “Bravely, she was able to fight back, break free from the suspect and vehicle, and ran to the house for help.”
“It is alleged that the suspect paid the victim’s mother, who he knew, in exchange for spending time alone with the victim,” he wrote.
“Sheriff’s detectives have determined the suspect of the assault is a 30 or 31 year old Nicaraguan man (legal identity yet to be determined based on multiple aliases) who entered the United States illegally from Mexico into Texas in October of 2021,” he wrote.
“At that time he was apprehended by US Customs and Border Protection agents, processed at a federal facility, and released from their custody with instructions to follow per current federal immigration policy,” the release says. “Detectives are still working to determine the immigration status of the victim’s mother. She has also been arrested for numerous crimes related to this incident, and both are currently in custody in the Fond du Lac County Jail. Further arrests may be forthcoming once the remainder of the investigation is complete.”
According to Waldschmidt, on Sunday, May 19, 2024, at 12:12 a.m., deputies from the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office “were dispatched to a private residence in rural town of Oakfield for a sexual assault complaint. The caller was a resident reporting a 12-year-old female had just showed up at his door seeking help.”
Due to the nature of the allegations, detectives “were called in to continue the investigation which progressed rapidly over the course of the next 40+ hours,” the release says.
Sheriff Ryan Waldschmidt (Fond du Lac County)
“Detectives were able to determine the identity and location of the suspect and tactical plan was developed to take him into custody,” Waldschmidt wrote. “The Sheriff’s Office SWAT team, with the assistance of the Fond du Lac Police Department SWAT team, executed a search warrant at a residence on Marquette Street in the City of Fond du Lac Monday evening. During the SWAT operation the suspect was eventually taken into custody without incident.”
This investigation is complex and involves “numerous serious potential crimes including sexual assault of a child, false imprisonment, child human trafficking, failure to protect a child, and others,” the sheriff wrote.
“The juvenile victim and her siblings have all safely been taken into protective custody by the Fond du Lac County Human Services,” the release says. “Further details of this case will be released in a criminal complaint when the suspects are criminally charged. Until that time, Sheriff’s Office will not be releasing additional information, as the investigation remains open and ongoing.”
This article originally appeared at Wisconsin Right Now and was reprinted with permission.
