Neenah Pastor in Jail for Allegedly Having a Sexual Relationship with a 16-year-old Girl

Pierce County Herald
September 12, 2014

http://www.piercecountyherald.com/content/crime-and-court-roundup-neenah-pastor-jail-allegedly-having-sexual-relationship-16-year-old

A minister in eastern Wisconsin is in jail, awaiting up to three-dozen felony charges for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl. A bond hearing was held in Brown County yesterday for 33-year-old Jerry Fletcher of Neenah, pastor of Crossover Ministries in Black Creek. A court commissioner sent Fletcher to jail under a 150-thousand-dollar cash bond. Prosecutors expect formal charges to be filed next week, with an initial appearance set for a week from Monday. An assistant district attorney said in court that Fletcher has admitted having sexual contact several times with the girl, dating back to last December when he lived in Green Bay. The minister's attorney said his client turned himself in, and has been cooperative with investigators. District Attorney David Lasee tells the Green Bay Press-Gazette that Fletcher has been wanted in Arizona for 12 years for a similar case.

A 13-year-old Racine boy is charged as an adult with attempted homicide, for allegedly stabbing an 11-year-old girl several times. Bond was set at 50-thousand dollars yesterday for Jamal Williams. He's due back in Racine County Circuit Court next Wednesday for a preliminary hearing. Prosecutors said the victim was walking home from school with three other girls on Monday, when Williams and another boy came up to them from behind. Williams reportedly asked one of the girls if she was "messing" with girlfriend, and then punched her on the left side several times. Prosecutors said the 11-year-old girl realized she was stabbed with a pocket knife, and she hit him several times before running off. Officials said the girl had stitches on her left chest, upper arm, and forearm. Investigators said Williams started arguing with the girl in a grocery store parking lot, and they talked about fighting. Prosecutors said she was victimized by bullying at school over the past year, and she believes it led to the stabbing.

__________________

Wisconsin's voter I-D law will be put under the microscope today, when the federal appeals court in Chicago hears oral arguments for-and-against it. The state is challenging a ruling from Federal Judge Lynn Adelman, which struck down the photo I-D requirement this past spring. State Attorney General J-B Van Hollen wants the court to put the 2011 law back in place for the November elections, while the judges decide on a final ruling. The State Supreme Court upheld the I-D law this summer, but it won't take effect until the federal courts make their decisions. Advocacy groups challenged the law at both levels, and Adelman agreed with their position that puts unfair burdens on poor and minority voters. Legal challenges have cropped up in almost a dozen states over voter I-D's laws, all of which Republicans approved in the name of fighting voter fraud. Van Hollen said in a federal court brief that 90-percent of Wisconsin voters already have acceptable I-D's, and race has nothing to do with the likelihood that a person would have proper identification. Katherine Culliton-Gonzalez of the Advancement Project says the Wisconsin law is one of the nation's strictest. She tells the A-P the Wisconsin case may determine how other appellate courts handle the issue. The Badger State has only been allowed to use its voter I-D law once, that being in a February 2012 primary.

__________________

A man killed while running across a highway was a National Guard member who was on his way home from a fellow soldier's funeral. Twenty-seven year old David Talford of Rock Falls died last Friday near Trego in northwest Wisconsin. Washburn County authorities said yesterday that Talford and a friend drank at several bars after leaving a funeral in Hayward -- and Talford pulled off Highway 53 to take a nap, because he was too drunk to drive. Investigators do not know why he ran out of his car and onto the highway, where he was struck by a vehicle driven by a man from Minong. The death was ruled an accident. Talford served for eight years in the Guard, and had served in Iraq. His funeral was yesterday near Mondovi.

_________________

A 20-year-old Kenosha man was convicted yesterday for his role in a robbery attempt that ended in murder. Brandon Horak struck a plea deal with prosecutors, and pleaded no contest to a charge of felony murder. It carries a prison sentence of up to 40 years. A pre-sentence investigation was not ordered yet. Another hearing is set for November 24th. Anthony Edwards was shot to death in April. Prosecutors said Horak arranged a meeting between Edwards and two men who were planning to steal drugs. Edwards apparently assumed that Markese Tibbs and Joseph-Jamal Brantley wanted to buy drugs from him -- but instead of doing that, one of them reportedly took out a gun. Edwards was shot as he drove away. Cases against Tibbs and Brantley are still pending.

_________________

A Sheboygan man is free on a signature bond, after being accused of shocking his seven-year-old daughter with a dog collar. Twenty-eight year old Zachary Kacmar appeared in court yesterday on a felony child abuse charge. Authorities said he placed a shock collar around the young girl's neck on August 30th. Her mother was not home at the time, but officials said she later noticed a mark on the child -- and she cried before telling her mom what happened. Prosecutors said Kacmar initially denied the action, saying she put the collar on herself and activated it to see what it felt like. Officials said he later admitted being responsible. A preliminary hearing in the case is set for September 24th.

__________________

Two men have pleaded guilty to lesser charges, after a woman from Rice Lake reportedly arranged for them to kill her ex-husband. Thirty-eight year old Robert McBain of Cameron and 35-year-old Ian Skjerly of Rice Lake both escaped life prison sentences, by pleading guilty to second-degree intentional homicide instead of their original first-degree charges. McBain entered his plea yesterday in Barron County, and will be sentenced January second. Skjerly was convicted on Wednesday, and will be sentenced November 13th. He told authorities that Trista Raven-Hrabak helped plan the shooting death of 33-year-old Daniel Raven at his Barron area home in March, because she was upset over child support issues. The 30-year-old Raven-Hrabak still faces a first-degree homicide charge, with a three-day trial scheduled to begin December 8th.

__________________

One person was killed and two others were hurt in a crash at a flat intersection on the Highway 29 expressway in Shawano County. Sheriff's deputies said a mini-van was trying to cross the eastbound lanes of 29 to get onto Old 29 Road -- and it was struck from the side by an S-U-V on the expressway. The mini-van driver died at the scene. Two people in the S-U-V went taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. No names were immediately released. The crash is still under investigation.