There is enough evidence to move forward with a trial for Lawrence Fields, Shawano-Menominee Circuit Court Judge Katherine Sloma ruled June 18 after a detective described what Fields allegedly did to a girl when she was 6 years old.
Fields, 64, faces one count of first-degree child sex assault and one count of exposing genitals to a child. The Seymour resident is currently being held in the Shawano County Jail on a $25,000 cash bond.
Shawano County Sheriff’s Department Detective Chris Gamm said that he responded to the victim’s home in the Town of Belle Plaine on Sept. 1, 2025, and learned from her mother that Fields, called Uncle Larry by them, had been babysitting the victim when he allegedly touched her on the butt, chest area and vagina.
Gamm said there was no penetration, but claimed Fields exposed his privates to the girl.
The child had showered with her mother prior to Gamm’s arrival, the detective testified, but the mother took her to a hospital in Appleton for a full examination.
Defense attorney Tripp Stroud pushed back on Gamm’s testimony that the victim and her mother bathed together.
“Don’t you agree that’s a bizarre thing to do after your 6-year-old daughter says something like that happened to her?” Stroud said.
Gamm responded that it wasn’t that unusual, given that the child was only 6 years old.
“Mothers and daughters, just like fathers and sons, shower together all the time,” he said. “I don’t know if that was a habit (in the family) or process of the mother wanting to check over the victim’s body without making it seem like an exam or another traumatic incident.”
Gamm said under direct examination that the victim seemed to be smart and articulate for her age. He noted that the victim was able to understand the difference between truthful statements and lies.
“She disclosed to the interviewer that Uncle Larry had touched her vagina and her buttocks under her clothing but on top of her underwear while she was playing a game on the defendant’s phone,” he said.
After the interview with the victim, Gamm interviewed the mother, and it was decided that she would contact Fields by phone for a one-party consent call. When she confronted Fields about the incident, he denied having touched the victim in a sexual fashion, according to Gamm, but the mother received a photo via text or Facebook message of Fields with his pants undone.
“There were text messages between the defendant and the victim’s mother of a sexual nature,” Gamm said.
Sloma scheduled an arraignment for Fields on June 20 at 1:30 p.m.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
