Posted on 04/23/2008 5:00:12 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Tony the Twister won't be shaping balloons into animals at children's parties anytime soon.
Anthony Stelter, who performs for children as Tony the Twister, was charged Monday with repeated sexual assault of a child and, if convicted, faces 25 years to life in prison. But that is not the end of Stelter's problems with the law.
The Dane County Sheriff's Office has forwarded information on assaults of two other victims to the Dane County District Attorney's Office. Those charges could be filed this week, and at least two other cases are being looked at for possible charges.
At Stelter's initial appearance Monday on the repeated sexual assault charge, Court Commissioner Jason Hanson set cash bail at $6,000 and set several bail conditions, including that he not perform any balloon shows if released. He also ordered Stelter to have no contact with the child or her family; that he have no contact with another female who may be a victim; that he have no contact with any female juveniles; that he have no juveniles in his home; that he not access the Internet; and that he not possess any controlled substances or drug paraphernalia.
Stelter was also ordered not to be at or around East High School, where one of the alleged victims attends school, or Belleville, where one of the alleged victims resides.
The criminal complaint filed Monday says he repeatedly sexually assaulted a girl, then age 13. On April 11, the girl told a school psychiatrist about the assaults.
Under Wisconsin law, school authorities were legally obligated to inform the police and did so. Since most of the assaults happened in the town of Madison, detectives from the town obtained a search warrant for Stelter's home. While they were looking for confirming evidence in the house, they also discovered cocaine and marijuana. Stelter was charged with two misdemeanor counts of possessing drugs and drug paraphernalia last week, which have since kept him in jail while police continued the investigation into the alleged sexual assaults.
The first of those complaints was filed Monday, alleging that Stelter had sexual contact with the victim numerous times in the past year. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on that charge next week. Neither the charge filed Monday nor the others under investigation involve any children that Stelter met while performing as Tony the Twister, authorities said.
It’s incidents like this that lead you to believe that anyone who desires to work with children has an ulterior motive.
The sad part of that is that working with kids will eventually be reserved for State-approoved professionals. We don't want to go there, the State has enough control over kids--and plenty of molesters of their own.
If he is guilty, I hope this clown gets bent over in the cell block. Even convicts have standards.
......rather, it is things like this that makes one question if someone will perceive them having an ulterior motive if they truly want to work with children. That is sad to me.
“The sad part of that is that working with kids will eventually be reserved for State-approoved professionals. We don’t want to go there, the State has enough control over kids—and plenty of molesters of their own.”
True. I have more of a distrust for state-approved professionals than I would of a private citizen. People who tend to get in government jobs tend to be corrupt.
It is sad, because we know there are people who truly love to work with children and it is their passion, but like usual, there are a few that ruin it for everyone else.
:singing:
“Kinko, Kinko, the Kid-Loving Clown,
‘If the kids just love me back, I’ll never wear a frown!’”
“It’s incidents like this that lead you to believe that anyone who desires to work with children has an ulterior motive.”
Speaking for myself, it leads me to believe nothing of the kind.
I remember that song.Tar and feather Kinko and run him out of town.
One at a time unless they are a cult please.
Tony the Twister faces more charges
http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/283129
Mike Miller — 4/24/2008 6:34 pm
More charges were filed Thursday against the children’s performer known as Tony the Twister, and there is a likelihood of more charges in the offing, an assistant district attorney said.
Anthony Stelter now faces three more counts of having sex with children.
“There is a distinct possibility there will be further charges,” said Assistant District Attorney Michael Verveer, “relating to other victims that the state will be filing as well.”
Stelter, 39, who was living at 53 Lakewood Gardens before his arrest last week, was in court again Thursday to face the latest charges — that he sexually assaulted girls who were friends of the family from 2003 to 2005. Verveer said during bail hearings late last week and again on Monday that various agencies were investigating still more cases in which Stelter could be accused of sexually assaulting girls in their early teens.
Stelter often performs as a magician and as a balloon artist who shapes balloons into animals for children and is known as Tony the Twister. As part of bail set Monday, Stelter was forbidden from performing his balloon act for children, and as part of his bail set Thursday, he was prohibited by Dane County Criminal Court Commissioner Todd Meurer from putting on any kind of performances for children.
Among other events, he performed at a Christmas party for members of the District Attorney’s Office and their families last year, courthouse sources said.
Stelter first came to the attention of law enforcement officials when a girl told a school psychiatrist on April 11 that she had been repeatedly sexually assaulted by Stelter, starting when she was 13. That led to an intense police investigation by several jurisdictions as other girls came forward with similar claims or detectives learned of other possible victims.
In a search of Stelter’s home, police turned up both cocaine and marijuana, and he was initially charged with two misdemeanor counts of possession of those drugs. Later he was charged with assaulting the first girl who spoke with the school and law enforcement, and he faces a possible sentence of life in prison on that charge, which also carries a minimum mandatory sentence of 25 years behind bars. In those two cases a total of $7,000 cash bail was set.
In Thursday’s court action, Stelter faces one count of repeated sexual assault of a child and two counts of having sexual intercourse with girls who were under the age of 17.
According to a criminal complaint, one of the girls, now 20, told detectives that when she was 17 she was at a party at Stelter’s house with several other young girls, and Stelter gave them all beer. The complaint says the victim woke up the next morning in his bed with no clothes on, and one of her other friends at the party told the victim that the victim and Stelter had sex the night before in his bed. She also said she saw a condom wrapper in the waste basket in Stelter’s bedroom.
That victim said Stelter got her drunk and had sex with her at his home about two weeks later, the complaint says.
The second victim in Thursday’s complaint said Stelter began sexually assaulting her in 2003, when she was 12 or 13 and he would ask her to sit on his lap. She said “she thought Tony loved kids, and it made her feel loved and close to Tony when she would sit on his lap.” But the complaint says he eventually began to fondle her, then increased the sexual assaults and “told her not to tell her parents since he would lose their friendship and/or his job and told her he liked working with kids.”
Verveer, citing the “extremely serious charges,” asked for more cash bail to be set, but Assistant State Public Defender Daryl Jensen said that was not necessary because the total now set on the cases that Stelter is facing is enough to ensure he appears at trial.
Meurer, however, upped the bail by setting $1,000 on each of the two misdemeanors of having sex with girls not yet 18 and $3,000 on the felony charge of repeated sexual assault of a child. The felony count carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison and extended supervision.
The total cash bail for Stelter is now $12,000, and he remained in jail Thursday, unable to post that amount.
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