No contest plea entered in abuse of 3-month-old

An Oconto Falls man accused of severely injuring a 3-month-old girl in his home has pleaded no contest to two of the felony charges against him.

During a Feb. 9 appearance in Oconto County Circuit Court, Vincent J. Enneper, 25, entered the pleas to charges of child abuse recklessly causing great harm and neglecting a child with the consequence of great bodily harm. A related charge of child abuse intentionally causing great bodily harm was dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

Judge Michael T. Judge scheduled sentencing for April 20 and ordered a pre-sentence investigation.

According to the criminal complaint, local authorities were notified by doctors at Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee, where the child was taken Jan. 9, 2020, suffering from at least two skull fractures and brain-bleed seizures.

Enneper had been home alone with the baby the day before and claimed that she fell out his arms and hit her head against the hardwood floor while he was using one hand to prepare a bottle to feed her.

He told investigators “he never uses force with anyone when he’s angry,” the complaint said.

But a doctor is quoted in the complaint as saying the girl’s injuries were “absolutely not consistent” with a fall: “This type of force can be seen when a child is violently slammed, shaken and/or thrown.”

The baby’s injuries were described as very severe, and the prognosis is that she will have lifelong deficits from a severe brain injury, the complaint said.

In the agreement filed when Enneper entered his plea, prosecutors say they will cap their sentence recommendation at 10 years in prison followed by five years of extended supervision for the child abuse charge, to be served concurrently with the sentence he is currently serving for arson. For the child neglect count, the district attorney will recommend that a six-year term of prison and supervision be imposed and stayed, with three years of probation consecutive to his current sentence.

The judge is not bound by attorneys’ recommendations, although they are taken under consideration. Having been convicted of Class E and Class F felonies, Enneper faces a maximum sentence of up to 27 years.

Enneper was 16 when he was charged with starting several fires inside St. Anthony Catholic School on Feb. 21, 2012, causing approximately $2 million in damage. He told authorities he did it because he was fascinated by fire.

He was sentenced to five years in prison to be followed by 10 years of extended supervision. He was still serving the second phase of that sentence when he was arrested a year ago. Court documents indicate the extended supervision was revoked because of the violation, and he faces seven years of additional confinement with two years reserved as extended supervision.

The criminal complaint in the 2012 case refers to separate incidents when Enneper was younger, when he injured two cats while he was angry.