2011 sex assault of group home resident nets six year prison term

A former group home employee who sexually assaulted a developmentally disabled woman he assisted at a group home was sentenced to six years in prison after his probation was revoked.

David Lonzo, 45, was ordered to spend four years on extended supervision by Judge Michael T. Judge after his release. He was given 472 days credit.

Lonzo had pleaded no contest to second-degree sexual assault, which carried a possible prison term of 40 years. A second count of the same charge was dismissed.

Judge withheld sentencing and granted Lonzo six years’ probation, on the condition of serving one year in jail.

Probation and Parole revoked Lonzo’s probation on Dec. 1 for violating several rules of his supervision, according to court records.

Lonzo was charged over a Jan. 23, 2011, at the woman’s apartment. The victim, identified in the complaint as “adult female Medicaid recipient,” was a client of Visions of Northeast Wisconsin in Gillett, from whom Lonzo had worked about two months.

The woman, who received day-to-day living assistance through Visions, had invited Lonzo and two other people over to watch a football game. According to the criminal complaint filed a year after the incident, the woman and Lonzo were sitting on a couch covered by blanket. About 10 or 15 minutes after she moved next to him, Lonzo took her hand, placed it on his pants over his crotch and moved her hand back and forth. She said this happened for several minutes until he pushed her hand away.

The woman recounted what happened to her former manager at the New Beginnings Store and Training Center in Gillett, the complaint said.

The case was investigated by a senior auditor from the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which investigates crimes involving the Medicaid program or against people receiving Medicaid. Lonzo told the investigator that he knew it was against company policy to have sex or sexual contact with a person for whom he was providing care.

The case was prosecuted by the Wisconsin Attorney General’s Office.

Lonzo — who lived in Oconto Falls at the time of the assault, but moved to Green Bay after he was charged — was ordered to pay $508 court costs, DOC fees, have no contact with the victim or minors, complete sex offender treatment, comply with sex offender registry and complete treatment as recommended by DOC.