MONROE — A former New Glarus man is in custody on a $50,000 cash bond, six months after an arrest warrant was issued for him for charges of sexually assaulting two young girls over a period of several years.

Kyle Evan Bearden, 27, faces two Class B felony counts of first-degree child sexual assault involving intercourse with a child younger than 12 and two Class I felony counts of exposing genitals to a child.

He stood mute on the charges Feb. 6 in Green County Circuit Court, and the court entered pleas of not guilty on his behalf. He has a pre-trial conference March 5.

Bearden’s last known address at the time the charges were filed was in Tucson, Arizona.

The investigation into Bearden started in May when a high school psychologist in Green County contacted police with concerns about a student.

According to the criminal complaint, filed in July:

The psychologist reported that for a class assignment the student had written an essay “about being sexually abused over the course of five years, beginning at the age of 8.”

Investigators found that the abuse was “sexual, physical and mental in nature” and “almost always” occurred when a younger girl, who reported similar abuse by Bearden, was present.

In a forensic interview, one of the girls estimated that Bearden touched them sexually and physically assaulted them about four out of seven days in a week, multiple times a day.

One time, when she told him to stop touching her, she said he shoved her up against a wall and threatened her.

She said when she and the other girl confided in another adult about the abuse, the adult either didn’t believe them or told them they “deserved it.” 

When that adult eventually did confront Bearden, he reportedly called the person “stupid” and “crazy.”