Green County
Misdemeanors
● Robert Lee Wedig, 54, Monroe, pleaded no contest Aug. 21 to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct, bail jumping and resisting or obstructing an officer, with related charges dismissed as part of a deferred prosecution agreement. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail. The charges stem from arrests by Monroe police in recent months. Court records indicate a 911 caller on April 18 reported Wedig was “intoxicated and belligerent,” scratched another man’s face and was in the hallway punching walls and doors of another apartment at his residence in the 1000 block of 16th Avenue. In the months that followed, Wedig was arrested three times for buying beer at a gas station near his house, in violation of bond conditions that he not possess alcohol. In each case, store clerks reported the violations to police, who then located Wedig nearby. In one case, an officer found that Wedig already had a blood-alcohol content of 0.137% and was “stumbling east to west while walking southbound.”
● Charles A. Sulzer, 61, Monroe, pleaded no contest Aug. 28 to a misdemeanor charge of hit-and-run. A charge of resisting or obstructing an officer was dismissed. He was sentenced to one year on probation and owes $831 in court assessments. The case stems from a hit-and-run accident Feb. 27 in the parking lot of a business in the 300 block of 6th Avenue West in Monroe. Police located the suspect vehicle in the driveway of Sulzer’s residence in the 1200 block of 12th Avenue.
Lafayette County
Felonies
● Taryn Jo Rankin, 21, Darlington, was charged Aug. 9 with a Class C felony count of second-degree sexual assault of a child, a Class D felony count of child enticement and a Class I felony count of causing a child to expose their genitals. Her initial appearance is Sept. 23. The case stems from an incident June 10 at her home on Ravine Street, reported to police several days later by the alleged victim, a 14-year-old boy. Court records indicate Rankin picked him up and brought him to the apartment after exchanging messages with him via Snapchat. The messages started as “teasing” but escalated to sexual talk and exchange of nude photos. At her apartment they kissed and she touched his penis, but he pushed her off, he told police. She asked him repeatedly to have sex with her but he refused and told her he did not want to “do anything serious” and wanted to wait to “do it” with someone he liked. He told the investigator Rankin did not force herself on him and “respected the fact that he refused.” He said she told him she didn’t want anyone to know about their contact because she could “go to prison for a long time if people find out.” But after their meeting, she continued messaging and sending him sexual photos until he blocked her two days later on Snapchat. In a police interview, Rankin confirmed many of the same details about her contact with the 14-year-old. She said he “got scared because of his age and he did not want to lose his virginity.”
● Shyanne L. Burris, 25, address unknown, and Louis B. Parker, 33, Mineral Point, were each charged Aug. 9 with two Class H felony counts of misappropriation of ID info to obtain money and a misdemeanor charge of telecommunications service fraud. Parker is also charged with two counts of misdemeanor bail jumping. Court records indicate they used a 72-year-old Darlington resident’s driver’s license and social security card to open a cellular service account with three phones, a total value of $2,696.58 obtained by fraud.
● Jason K. Rogers, 42, Darlington, was charged Sept. 3 with three Class H felony counts of child abuse and one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct. The case stems from a Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office investigation into allegations that Rogers was physically abusive toward three children, ages 12, 10 and 2, at his home. Court records indicate a deputy responded Aug. 28 to a residence on Lancaster Road for a report of a fight between Rogers and the man whose property Rogers was living on, Mark Selmeister, 62. Selmeister said he confronted Rogers for hitting a 10-year-old girl in the head and the confrontation turned violent. Selmeister faces a related charge of disorderly conduct. Interviews with the involved children, Selmeister and other witnessing adults found Rogers had been increasingly physically violent with the children over the past month, including punching the 12-year-old in the ribs hard enough to leave bruises and “smacking” the 2-year-old across the forehead out of anger when the child fell onto the remote-controlled car Rogers was operating. When interviewed at the jail by police, Rogers admitted to pushing a girl down on the couch but wouldn’t elaborate further and said he didn’t know what caused the injuries deputies observed. He said the children “play rough.” Rogers has signed a $2,000 signature bond with conditions that he have no contact with Selmeister, the residence or the children listed in the criminal complaint.