Wisconsin AG Candidate Under Fire for Another Deal With Accused Child Molester

Jefferson County District Attorney and Democratic candidate for attorney general in Wisconsin, Susan Happ, is under fire again for a deal her office made with a man charged with six felony counts involving sex with a child.

Court documents show Happ’s office dropped four of the six charges against Josiah Onasch in exchange for a guilty plea on to two counts of incest with his 13-year-old and 15-year-old sisters.

In a police interview (which I have obtained) Onasch took “full responsibility” for the multiple sexual contacts he had with one of his sisters, but denies any contact with the second.

Although the maximum sentence for an incest conviction is 40 years for each count, assistant district attorneys recommended Onasch be sentence to a total of five years in prison, according to the court records.

A judge sentenced him to one year in jail and 12 years probation.

Calls to Happ’s office for comment have not been returned.

Ozaukee County District Attorney Adam Gerol told me he could not understand why Happ’s office agreed to drop most of the charges, given Onasch’s confession.

“It doesn’t make a great deal of sense why [Happ] would amend [the charges] especially if you have an admission,” Gerol said. “Why would you charge so many offenses just to sell it out for so few?”

“What the outcome tells me,” Gerol continued, “is that in the courage of [Happ’s] convictions, she doesn’t believe that a brother who violates his much younger and vulnerable sisters deserves more than five years.”

Happ also came under heavy criticism last month for a plea agreement her office struck with an accused child sex offender to whom Happ and her husband previously sold property.