MADISON, WI (WTAQ) – A former Wausau priest has lost his appeal in an effort to drop convictions on eight sex-related charges.
The State Supreme Court says it will not consider overturning an appeals court ruling, which upheld convictions against 51-year-old Timothy Svea.
Authorities said he sexually assaulted teenage boys at least 3 times in the late 1990’s at St. Mary’s Church in Wausau, and on a mission trip at St. Mary’s Ridge at Cashton in Monroe County — while exposing himself to children 25 times.
Online court records showed that 30 charges were filed against Svea, including an alleged sexual assault in Brown County. He struck a plea deal, and pleaded no contest in 2002 to second and fourth-degree sexual assault, false imprisonment, and exposure charges.
He was sentenced to a year-and-a-half in prison, plus 20 years of extended supervision with orders to get counseling.
Officials said his sexual acts involved boys as young as 15, and one victim was handcuffed to a bed.
The incidents went on for a few years until a Wausau victim complained to his parents, and the police became involved.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
