Caledonia Argus

Plea agreement reached in sex offender case

Posted: 4/6/04

By David Heiller
Argus News Editor

A La Crescent man will spend at least 16 months in jail for alleged sex offenses if a plea agreement is accepted by the judge.

Houston County Attorney Richard Jackson and defense attorney John M. Brinckman of La Crosse jointly recommended the agreement for Scott Schendel, 45, in Houston County District Court on March 31.

Judge James Fabian will make a decision on the agreement in about two months, once once a pre-sentence investigation is complete, Jackson said on April 2.

Under the agreement, Schendel will plead guilty to seven counts of second degree sexual assault involving four victims under age 13, all felonies; one count of indecent exposure, a gross misdemeanor; and one count of second degree assault causing injury, a felony.

Each felony count consecutively totals a sentence 237 months. That has been stayed.

The agreement has these conditions:

ï Two consecutive one-year sentences in the Houston County Jail. With good behavior, Schendel could be out in 16 months.

ï Probation for 25 years.

ï Sexual offender evaluation and cooperation with treatment.

ï Restitution for counseling for the four alleged victims. and for three other individuals that Schendel admitted having sexual contact with.

ï No contact with the victims, and no unsupervised contact with any children under age 18.

Jackson said he thinks the plea agreement is appropriate because the defendant made admissions to a sex offender counselor before the county had made its case against him.

The certainty of the plea and and the avoidance of a trial for each victim, a meaningful sentence, and Schendelís taking part in a sex offender program also make the agreement acceptable, he added.

Jackson said that most of the families involved agreed with the attorneysí decisions.

In November of 2003, Schendel was charged with two counts two counts of second degree criminal sexual conduct involving another girl, after one of his alleged victims told her mother about an incident with him.

After further investigation, Jackson filed three more complaints against Schendel on February 23 that allege nine instances of sexual misconduct involving three girls under the age of 13. Schendel pled not guilty to all of these counts, but the plea agreement negates those earlier pleas.

Schendel is free on a $10,000 cash bond. He is allowed to go out of state to do work, but can have no contact with the alleged victims, and no unsupervised contact with children under age 18.

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