By Gary Mays

gmays@

themonroetimes.com

BRODHEAD — A 45-year-old Brodhead man has been charged with felony child sexual assault after authorities allege he abused two children over a span of time that ran from 2006 to 2014 in Green County.

The alleged abuse occurred in several locations over the period including in Brodhead, Monroe, the Town of Spring Grove, and the Town of Decatur.

One of the victims was under 13 at the time she was touched inappropriately, while the other was abused periodically over the course of nearly a decade, from the age of about 4 to 13, according to a criminal complaint filed in Green County Circuit Court. 

Following an investigation, John Erwin Tracy, Jr. was charged in August with repeated sexual assault of a child and first-degree child sexual assault with a child under 13. 

The abuse started on Easter one year for one of the victims when she was 4 or 5, police allege. That continued so that when she was “7 or 8” she reported that she woke up on a couch with the defendant having allegedly removed her pants and fondling her. 

The older victim began to recall numerous incidents of alleged unwanted touching through therapy sessions much later in life.

Shame appears to have had a role in why the defendant was not investigated for the abuse at an earlier time, according to the criminal complaint.

“During the course of their conversation, [WITNESS 5] stated that when JOHN was approximately 20 years old, he, [WITNESS 5] was aware that three female family members of JOHN’S had reported being Sexually Assaulted by JOHN,” the complaint said. “[SHE] stated that [WITNESS 5] reported that the other family members did not believe the three female family members so it was never reported to Law Enforcement…”

In late August, during the investigation, one witness told investigators that she was worried because the defendant allegedly told her over the phone “that he felt as if he needed to shoot someone.”

Tracy Jr. remains in Green County Jail on a $50,000 bond. An initial hearing was held Sept. 11 and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 23 before Circuit Judge Faun Phillipson. 

If convicted of first-degree sexual assault of the same child, the defendant faces potentially decades in state prison.