May 26, 2017 at 4:12 p.m.
Rhinelander man draws jail, lengthy probation in molestation case
Rhinelander man draws jail, lengthy probation in molestation case
As part of a plea agreement, John J. Donato pled guilty to one count of second degree sexual assault of a child and one count of causing mental harm to a child, a class C and F felony, respectively. The second charge was amended down from first degree child sexual assault (sexual contact with a person under the age of 13), a class B felony, as part of a plea agreement between assistant district attorney Mary Sowinski and Donato's public defender, John Voorhees.
Donato originally faced a maximum sentence of up to 60 years in prison for the Class B felony and 40 years in prison and not more than $100,000 in fines for the class C felony.
The plea agreement was to recommend a withheld sentence on the more serious felony and to place Donato on probation for 10 years, mandatory registration as a sex offender for 15 years, one year conditional jail time with credit for 255 days served if probation is revoked. On the second count, Judge Patrick O'Melia delayed entry of judgment for five years. Conditions of probation include AODA assessment and follow through along with any mental health or sex offender counseling his probation agent may feel is necessary.
The resolution of the case is an example of the balancing act the district attorney's office often has to make when faced with situations where young children are the victims of crimes. The two incidents occurred within an hour and a half of each other, according to the criminal complaint filed in the case. Both victims told police that Donato either squeezed or pressed into their buttocks after approaching them from behind. One girl was 8 at the time, the other was 13. Store surveillance video placed Donato in the same aisles as the two victims, but Sowinski said that the angle on one only showed Donato approach the victim from behind, while the second video did not have a view of the incident taking place, just the child running from the aisle that Donato was in.
Given that the video had only circumstantial evidentiary value, Sowinski said the two victims would have had to testify at trial to secure a conviction. To do so would have further traumatized two children who were still suffering after- effects from the original incident, she explained.
"The problems with the videos are, his actual contact with the 8-year-old, which is count two, which is the count I amended, the picture is taken from the front of the girl, and he walks up from behind her," Sowinski said in an interview Wednesday. "The way he walks behind her, you can't really see his hand come into contact with her buttocks. So she would absolutely have to testify, and it was literally a split second."
According to the criminal complaint, when interviewed by police, Donato at first said he simply accidentally bumped into the girl but after officers advised they had surveillance video of him in the store he admitted to purposefully touching the girl. When asked if he had thought about "snatching" the alleged victim from the store, he said he had not but did admit that "lately he has found himself watching young girls, being sexually attracted to young girls, and found the young girl in Walmart to be attractive."
Sowinski said his confession, and Donato's willingness to plead guilty to the felony charges, went a long way toward convincing her to agree to the plea agreement.
Another factor she had to take into account was that Donato had no serious prior criminal record, either in Wisconsin or in Pennsylvania where he previously lived. She told O'Melia at the sentencing hearing that she had the Rhinelander Police Department run two checks through the National Crime Information Center to confirm. None of his prior offenses were of a sexual nature, she added.
"He has no history of doing this anywhere else that we were able to find," Sowinski said. "And he has no real recent criminal history."
Both Voorhees and Sowinski told O'Melia it is extremely rare that someone of Donato's age would have committed prior sex crimes without being caught. Voorhees also said his client's age puts him at a much lower risk of reoffense, according to an mental health expert he had examine the defendant.
"That is something I talked to John (Voorhees) about even before we started talking about a plea agreement," Sowinski said. "It is relatively unusual for someone to get this late in life and begin to exhibit this behavior, but there are some forms of dementia that manifest themselves in this type of social/sexual behavior."
Another factor Sowinsko said played into her decision was Donato's health. She said he suffered one heart attack after his arrest, which necessitated him being airlifted to Aspirus Wausau Hospital.
But she said the biggest factor was to avoid forcing the victims to testify in open court during a trial.
She filed victims' rights statements at Tuesday's hearing that said both girls are still having issues stemming from the incidents.
Although this was Donato's first incident of child sexual assault, and O'Melia charecterized it as at the "lower end" of the spectrum, he didn't think it would have remained minor if not for the courage of the victims to "understand what was happening and report it."
"While it is on the lower end of the spectrum, the victims are individual people, and they react differently," O'Melia added. "They are victimized in many different ways, whether it is the worst of that spectrum or what happened here sexually."
He noted that the youngest victim was having problems as a result of the incident, and the judge said he hopes that she will eventually "accept and understand" that it had nothing to do with what she did.
"Hopefully, she will eventually be able to forget about this," O'Melia said. "I don't know if it will have an affect on her for weeks, months or years."
He then addressed Donato directly.
"And it was all caused by your apparent aberration into the sexual contact," he said.
O'Melia then told Donato it is "time to close the case and it is a matter of jail time or prison. And what has kept you out of prison, and it has been referenced here, is the fact that you have no other offenses similar to this. And I think that is the main reason that you would be going any further."
O'Melia then went along with the plea agreement but stressed that if Donato violates the terms of his probation the deferred entry of judgment means O'Melia or another judge will take the matter straight to sentencing due to his guilty plea.
"You are going to be on a tight leash for some time regarding probation, and you should be monitored," O'Melia said.
The grandparents of this youngest victim were in the courtroom for the sentencing, and O'Melia asked them to give the girl a message from him.
"Go home and tell (her) that (she) did nothing wrong, obviously I think (both girls) probably realize that," the judge said. "If she were here, I'd tell her things will get better, but you tell her that it had nothing to do with her."
Jamie Taylor may be reached at [email protected].
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