MONROE - A New Glarus man is charged in Green County Circuit Court with sexually assaulting a preteen girl.
Richard Robert Parsons, 40, faces a Class B felony count of first-degree child sexual assault involving sexual contact with a person younger than 13, plus misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and obstructing an officer.
The felony charge stems from an incident Nov. 20 at Parsons' home.
The criminal complaint, filed Feb. 2, alleges Parsons groped and kissed the preteen girl while she was visiting the home with friends and then lied to police when questioned about it.
The girl told an investigator Parsons "kept staring" at her and "kept coming in the room and watching her." When she and Parsons were alone in the room, she said he started kissing her, groping her and caressing her face. He was close enough that she could smell alcohol on his breath.
The incident left her confused and "genuinely scared."
She said Parsons asked her if he was doing something "wrong," and she responded no and that she just had to leave.
When police questioned Parsons about the incident on Jan. 19, he denied it ever happened, saying "there had been no females in his home and that he was shocked" by the allegation, according to an officer's report. It was a "crazy notion" and "sounded like a setup," Parsons told police.
Even after police informed him the girl had drawn an accurate layout of his home when asked by the investigator, he maintained his innocence.
Parsons was arrested and jailed that day on probable cause.
However, he was released several days later with no formal charges filed against him.
An officer dropped Parsons off at his home on Jan. 23 and described in a report how Parsons "broke down and started crying and shaking" with relief over his release. Parsons vowed to the officer that his heavy drinking days were behind him.
But in the course of the conversation, Parsons confessed to the sexual assault, describing a similar sequence of events on Nov. 20 as the girl had described - that he had followed her around the home, kissed her and groped her.
"In light of Mr. Parson's statements, formal charges were filed against him relating to the conduct underlying the initial arrest," Green County District Attorney Craig Nolen wrote in an email to the Times. Before Parsons' confession on Jan. 23, Nolen wrote that his office "reviewed the police reports and determined that it was not appropriate to issue a criminal complaint at that time."
Parsons signed a $9,000 signature bond and $1,000 cash bond last week, with conditions that he not leave Wisconsin without the permission of the court, not drink or go into bars or liquor stores and have no contact with the girl or anyone younger than 18 unless supervised by an adult older than 25.
His preliminary hearing is Thursday.
Richard Robert Parsons, 40, faces a Class B felony count of first-degree child sexual assault involving sexual contact with a person younger than 13, plus misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and obstructing an officer.
The felony charge stems from an incident Nov. 20 at Parsons' home.
The criminal complaint, filed Feb. 2, alleges Parsons groped and kissed the preteen girl while she was visiting the home with friends and then lied to police when questioned about it.
The girl told an investigator Parsons "kept staring" at her and "kept coming in the room and watching her." When she and Parsons were alone in the room, she said he started kissing her, groping her and caressing her face. He was close enough that she could smell alcohol on his breath.
The incident left her confused and "genuinely scared."
She said Parsons asked her if he was doing something "wrong," and she responded no and that she just had to leave.
When police questioned Parsons about the incident on Jan. 19, he denied it ever happened, saying "there had been no females in his home and that he was shocked" by the allegation, according to an officer's report. It was a "crazy notion" and "sounded like a setup," Parsons told police.
Even after police informed him the girl had drawn an accurate layout of his home when asked by the investigator, he maintained his innocence.
Parsons was arrested and jailed that day on probable cause.
However, he was released several days later with no formal charges filed against him.
An officer dropped Parsons off at his home on Jan. 23 and described in a report how Parsons "broke down and started crying and shaking" with relief over his release. Parsons vowed to the officer that his heavy drinking days were behind him.
But in the course of the conversation, Parsons confessed to the sexual assault, describing a similar sequence of events on Nov. 20 as the girl had described - that he had followed her around the home, kissed her and groped her.
"In light of Mr. Parson's statements, formal charges were filed against him relating to the conduct underlying the initial arrest," Green County District Attorney Craig Nolen wrote in an email to the Times. Before Parsons' confession on Jan. 23, Nolen wrote that his office "reviewed the police reports and determined that it was not appropriate to issue a criminal complaint at that time."
Parsons signed a $9,000 signature bond and $1,000 cash bond last week, with conditions that he not leave Wisconsin without the permission of the court, not drink or go into bars or liquor stores and have no contact with the girl or anyone younger than 18 unless supervised by an adult older than 25.
His preliminary hearing is Thursday.