A Seymour man remains in the Shawano County Jail on a $25,000 cash bond after being charged earlier this month with first-degree sexual assault with a child under 13 and exposing his genitals.
A preliminary hearing had been scheduled for Sept. 17 for Lawrence J. Fields, 63, but he did not yet have an attorney. When he initially appeared in court, it was questionable whether Fields qualified for a public defender. Fields told Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court Judge Katherine Sloma that some of his relatives are working on finding a lawyer for him, and he’d be hiring one once he got paid Sept. 26.
The criminal complaint alleges that he touched the 6-year-old victim around Labor Day at a home on County Road Y in the Town of Belle Plaine. The victim’s mother said she asked Fields, her uncle, to watch the victim while she went to Clintonville to clean a house. The mother, who said she was gone about 90 minutes that day, said Fields is one of the few relatives still speaking to her, and he’d watched the victim on previous occasions.
While away, Fields allegedly touched the victim around her breasts, buttocks and private parts, according to the complaint. When Fields allegedly exposed his genitals, the victim became scared and ran outside, coming back inside later, at which point Fields allegedly told the child that she could not tell anyone about what happened.
The home had two cameras, but one was off because the mother did not turn it on via her cellphone, and the other was disconnected, but the mother told a deputy she had not disconnected the camera and neither had her daughter.
The mother said she would not be in contact with Fields anymore, and that she’d blocked him on all social media, according to the complaint.
Two days later, a Shawano County Sheriff’s Department detective interviewed the victim and found her to be credible. A monitored phone call was made to Fields after that, according to the complaint, where he denied any sexual contact or exposure but offered to help pay for any counseling for the victim.
Fields was later arrested by Outagamie County Sheriff’s Department officials and transferred to Shawano County’s custody. According to the complaint, Fields immediately asked for an attorney and denied a request for detectives to examine his phone.
A status conference has been scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Oct. 7 in Branch I of the Shawano County Courthouse.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com